Digital Commons Network^™

Tools For Legislative Oversight: An Empirical Investigation, Riccardo Pelizzo, Rick Stapenhurst

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Parliaments are the institutions through which governments are held accountable to the electorate. They have a wide range of tools with which to carry out this oversight function, but until recently little analysis had been undertaken on the characteristics or use of such tools. This paper uses data for 83 countries that was collected in 2001 to investigate whether the oversight potential relates to three variables, namely the form of government (presidential, semi-presidential, or parliamentary), per capita income levels, and the level of democracy. The paper finds that oversight potential is greatly affected by the form of government, per capita …

Using Modelling For Teaching Social Skills To Children With Autism: A Literature Review &, Effects Of Video-Modelling On The Acquisition And Generalisation Of Play Behaviour In Children With Autism, Claire R. Paterson

Theses : Honours

Impaired social functioning is a characteristic feature of autistic spectrum disorder. Various interventions have been developed to address social dysfunction in children with autism. The purpose of this paper is to review studies that have examined the efficacy of using modelling procedures to teach children with autism social skills. Modelling involves observing a model performing a target behaviour intended for the observer to imitate. Modelling techniques have effectively incorporated a range of models including adults, peers, and target children by observing videotapes of themselves. Peer-mediated strategies have been shown to substantially increase social behaviour in children with autism, however generalisation …

Improving Nutrient Management At Lake Joondalup, Western Australia, Through Identification Of Key Sources And Current Trajectories, Michelle Cumbers

Theses : Honours

Eutrophication has become a considerable issue for managers of water bodies across Australia. Rapid urbanisation in the south-west of Western Australia is causing the eutrophication of many wetlands within the region. Lake Joondalup is a eutrophic, urban lake, located approximately 20km north of Perth city. It comprises part of the Yellagonga Regional Park, having a high conservation value. The aim of this study was to provide managers of Lake Joondalup with information on the relative importance of different nutrient sources into the lake, thus enabling the development of appropriate management strategies. Additionally, a historical examination of available water quality data …

Child Custody Disputes: Bridging The Gap Between Psychologists And Family Court, Kate Pratsides

Theses : Honours

The number of divorce cases that come before judges and registrars within the Family Court system is steadily increasing, and so is the use of psychologists as expert witnesses. However, little is known about what the judges and registrars think of the psychologist's use of psychometric test results when writing their forensic report, this study attempts to answer that. This thesis is presented in two sections. The first is a literature review of guidelines that are available to psychologists when writing a forensic report. These guidelines include (1) broad guidelines provided by professional associations, such as the American Psychological Association; …

Images Of Confinement : Power Relations, Cultural Industries And The Individual, Sohan Ariel Hayes

Theses : Honours

No abstract provided.

Restitution For Mistaken Gifts, Hang Wu Tang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This paper investigates when a donor is entitled to restitution for an executed inter vivos gift made pursuant to a mistake. The causal mistake approach adopted by some leading works is considered, critiqued and rejected as a framework to analyse mistaken gifts. The central thesis of this paper is that a gift is an important transaction which engenders social bonds such as love, affection, intimacy, friendship, trust and gratitude, and these bonds influence the parties’ future conduct in the social sphere. This process has been termed as creating a moral economy. Therefore, just as it is important to protect the …

The Body And Technology In Popular Culture, Przemyslaw Psuj

Theses : Honours

The human experience of the world today is increasingly adapted and understood via technological terms and systems. This thesis analyses and examines the ways in which technology today impacts upon the human body and its capacities in the area of subculture and music. Also considered are the implications of this notion for the future. Primarily my study stems from theory proposed by Donna Haraway (1985) and her image of the cyborg and its inherently hybrid nature. Picking up on this point, I will look specifically at the existence and representation of the hybrid body in popular culture. Some critics fear …

Evaluation Of An Esperanto-Based Interlingua Multilingual Survey Form Machine Translation Mechanism Incorporating A Sublanguage Translation Methodolgy, Richard Boddington

Theses : Honours

Translation costs restrict the preparation of medical survey and other questionnaires for migrant communities in Western Australia. This restriction is compounded by a lack of affordable and accurate machine translation mechanisms. This research investigated and evaluated combined strategies intended to provide an efficacious and affordable machine translator by: • using an interlingua or pivot-language that requires less resources for its construction than contemporary systems and has the additional benefit of significant error reduction; and • defining smaller lexical environments to restrict data, thereby reducing the complexity of translation rules and enhancing correct semantic transfer between natural languages. This research focussed …

Teachers' Experiences Of Teaching Children With Learning Difficulties, Michelle Francis

Theses : Honours

The purpose of this review is to present some of the issues involved in teaching children with learning difficulties (LD}. Approximately one in five children within mainstream classrooms will experience LD. Many of these children will also exhibit social, emotional or behavioural problems (for example, withdrawal, depression, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Conduct Disorder). Teachers' perceptions and judgments about LD and their self-efficacy influence their teaching practice of students with LD. It is recognized that teachers cannot manage the needs of LD students alone and need support in their teaching from specialist consultants and also for their own psychological well-being. …

Under The Thumb : The Role Of Sms In The Forming And Maintenance Of Adolescent Dating Relationships, Jason Noble

Theses : Honours

The use of the mobile phone is a ubiquitous feature of many an individual's social life within contemporary society. Given this, it is somewhat surprising that little academic research has been undertaken into its effects on the social and cultural lives of key user populations. In particular, the Short Message Service- SMS texting- is a mobile phone application that has transformed the lives of large numbers of adolescent city dwellers. Moreover, teenagers and young adults, who represent the adolescent population, have adopted this mobile phone application and subsequently applied it to their social lives in ways that never would have …

Perceptions Of Psychological Injury In The Workplace, Richard Merrett

Theses : Honours

Work-related psychological injury has not only increased as a percentage of all injuries but also accounts for the greatest cost, both in duration of lost time and financially (National Occupational Health & Safety Commission [NOHSC], 2001; NOHSC, 2002). There are two major explanations as to why this might be. One explanation is that stigmatisation of psychological injury has reduced, resulting in increased reporting (Manton, 2004). The other major explanation is that workplaces are becoming more stressful environments, resulting in increased levels of psychological injury to employees (Kenny & Cooper, 2003). This review will investigate those potentially influential factors that relate …

Substance Using Women : The Social Meaning Of Substance Use For Using Women And The Negotiation Of Identities, H. Suzanne Mackeith

Theses : Honours

This thesis is framed as an inquiry into the attitudes and experiences of women to their use of psychoactive substances and the contribution that use makes to their construction of gendered identities and meanings they derive from their use. The thesis also explores how these meanings relate to, and contrast or concur with, wider social attitudes relating to ‘feminine’ identity, issues of resistance and control, self control, happiness, independence and dependence, social roles and relationships, risk-taking and safety. The thesis aims to contribute to feminist understandings concerning substance use and to add a feminist interpretative voice to the alcohol, tobacco …

Metaheuristics With Local Search Techniques For Retail Shelf-Space Optimization, Andrew Lim, Brian Rodrigues, Xingwen Zhang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Efficient shelf-space allocation can provide retailers with a competitive edge. While there has been little study on this subject, there is great interest in improving product allocation in the retail industry. This paper examines a practicable linear allocation model for optimizing shelf-space allocation. It extends the model to address other requirements such as product groupings and nonlinear profit functions. Besides providing a network flow solution, we put forward a strategy that combines a strong local search with a metaheuristic approach to space allocation. This strategy is flexible and efficient, as it can address both linear and nonlinear problems of realistic …

Resource-Based Theory And Its Link To The Global Strategy, Structure And Performance Relationship: An Integrative Framework, Olivier Furrer, Jeffrey A. Krug, D. Sudharshan, Howard Thomas

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The global strategy literature provides a basis for examining strategy, structure, and performance relationships in multinational firms. We develop a framework that examines these relationships and their linkages to the firm's intangible asset portfolio. Drawing on resource-based theory, this framework suggests that an on-going multinational firm's worldwide performance is dependent on the fit between its intangible asset portfolio, foreign market entry strategies, partner relationships, and worldwide organisational structure. Each of these dimensions can be linked back to the firm's worldwide strategy and the characteristics of its industry. Implications for research are discussed.

Using Information And Communication Technology For Human Development: Comparing Strategies, Jenny Engelbrektsson

Theses : Honours

In the last 20 years, applications of lnformation and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have impacted on the economics of the industrialised world. In today's "information society", information and knowledge are essential to social and economic development. However, not everyone has access to ICI sand the information they may provide. There is concern that existing inequities of income, knowledge, skills and measures of social development may increase as a result of a growing "digital divide" both between and within countries. There is an ongoing discussion within the international community about whether ICTs may play a significant role in human development. This study …

Optimisation Of John The Ripper In A Clustered Linux Environment, Christian Frichot

Theses : Honours

To aid system administrators in enforcing strict password policies, the use of password cracking tools such as Cisilia (C.I.S.I.ar, 2003) and John the Ripper (Solar Designer, 2002), have been employed as software utilities to look for "weak" passwords. John the Ripper (JtR) attempts to crack the passwords by using a dictionary, brute-force or "other" mode of attack. The computational intensity of cracking passwords has led to the utilisation of parallel-processing environments to increase the speed of the password-cracking task. Parallel-processing environments can consist of either single systems with multiple processors, or a collection of separate computers working together as a …

Bias In The Correlated Uniqueness Model For Mtmm Data, James M. Conway, Filip Lievens, Steven E. Scullen, Charles E. Lance

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This simulation investigates bias in trait factor loadings and intercorrelations when analyzing multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) data using the correlated uniqueness (CU) confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) model. A theoretical weakness of the CU model is the assumption of uncorrelated methods. However, previous simulation studies have shown little bias in trait estimates even when true method correlations are large. We hypothesized that there would be substantial bias when both method factor correlations and method factor loadings were large. We generated simulated sample data using population parameters based on our review of actual MTMM results. Results confirmed the prediction; substantial bias occurred in trait …

Part Of The Team: An Initiative To Tackle The High Ninth-Grade Retention Rate At Englewood High School, David V. Basile

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This report describes a high school initiative aimed at reducing the high retention rate for first-time 9th-grade students at Englewood High School. By implementing the aspects of teaming to a select group of first-time 9th-grade students, the administration at Englewood High School hoped to decrease the retention rate by 5-7% annually. The retention rate for first-time 9th-grade students for the past 3 years has averaged 47.6%.

Strategies employed by this initiative included: (a) randomly selecting 99 first-time 9th-grade students; (b) teaming together 5 teachers from different disciplines into an interdisciplinary team; and (c) implementing additional parent-school interaction, in-class guidance activities, …

Can Senior Citizens Be A Resource To Our Schools? The Benefits Of Senior Citizens Tutoring High-Risk Students, Dianne G. Bruce

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

In this applied dissertation, 2nd- and 4th-grade students who were performing unsatisfactorily on the Criterion Test of Basic Skills (CTBS) were identified as a target group to receive the planned intervention. Nine students in Grade 2 and 11 students in Grade 4 received assistance from an adult tutor during and after school. In addition, teachers received increased staff development in mathematics instruction.

Senior adults were paid through the Foster Grandparents program under a government agency to tutor students in the target group. Tutors were trained by school staff. They met students twice a week in their respective mathematics classes and …

Effects Of Homogeneous-Ability Grouping Of Third-Grade Disadvantaged Students With Reading Deficiencies, Donna Hamilton

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of homogeneous-ability grouping of 3rd-grade students with reading deficiencies. Three research questions were employed to determine the effects of a homogeneous-abilitygrouping model when compared to a heterogeneous-abilitygrouping model: (1) What were contributing factors of third-grade students’ reading deficiency? (2) What impact would homogeneous-ability grouping have on student reading proficiency? and (3) How would third-grade students engaged in a heterogeneous-ability group compare with students engaged in a homogeneous-ability group with regard to the development of reading proficiency? The study used a Teacher Interview Questionnaire to obtain feedback from teachers, a Student …

Improving Discipline At Spotswood High School, Dixie S. Robinson

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation addresses the discipline problems at Spotswood High School in Grades 9, 10, 11, and 12. During the years 2001 and 2002, there were a yearly average of 1,350 referrals reported to the Spotswood High School (SHS) administrative team for student behavior that violated the district’s discipline code. Within the 1,350 referrals there were 689 incidents resulting in out-of-school suspensions. Many discipline referrals were never addressed, which led to the encouragement of student misbehavior.

To address the discipline problems at SHS, the administrative team united in purpose and developed a discipline plan that empowered the staff at SHS …

Increasing Parental Involvement In A Diverse Urban School, Dianne S. Scott

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to increase the parental involvement at a large, urban, K-8 elementary school with a very diverse population. The school had little or no parental involvement. Few parents attended report card conferences. There was no active Home and School Association or School Council. Parent volunteers were almost nonexistent.

The objectives of this applied dissertation were that at least 75% of the parents at T School would be in attendance at parent/teacher conferences, at least 35% of the school's families would participate and vote in the school council election, and at least 10% of the parents would …

A Case Study Of The Transitional Needs Of Ninth Graders At A Rural High School, Donald A. Knox Jr.

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The purpose of this study was to develop strategies that would aid in the transition from middle school to high school. The school on which this study focused was in a rural area of North Carolina and served more than 1,700 students. There was no formal transition plan used by the school district. This study utilized 41 students and 33 teachers to gather data on the needs of rising 9th-grade students.

The study was divided into 4 parts: student survey, student interview, teacher survey, and teacher interview. The surveys collected data concerning student and teacher background information, student involvement in …

Evaluating The Usability Of A Group Support System Using Co-Discovery, Keng Siau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Group Support Systems (GSSs) have emerged as a new type of information system to aid group decision-making. With the proliferation of such systems in organizations, evaluation of GSSs is becoming increasingly important. This paper reports the evaluation of an existing GSS. Our usability framework consists of nine dimensions: visual clarity, consistency, compatibility, informative feedback, explicitness, flexibility and control, error prevention and correction, ease of learning, and ease of use. We make use of the co-discovery method where teams of two participants perform tasks together while being observed. The study involves questionnaires and interview sessions. The strengths and weaknesses of the …