Digital Commons Network^™

Clinical And Biomarker Changes In Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer's Disease, R J Bateman, C Xiong, T L Benzinger, A M Fagan, A Goate, N C Fox, D S Marcus, N J Cairns, X Xie, T M Blazey, D M Holtzman, A Santacruz, V Buckles, A Oliver, K Moulder, P M Aisen, B Ghetti, W M Klunk, E Mcdade, Ralph Martins, C M Masters, R Mayeux, J M Ringman, M M Rossor, P M Schofield, R M Sperling, S Salloway, J M Morris

Research outputs 2012

Background: The order and magnitude of pathologic processes in Alzheimer's disease are not well understood, partly because the disease develops over many years. Autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease has a predictable age at onset and provides an opportunity to determine the sequence and magnitude of pathologic changes that culminate in symptomatic disease.

Methods: In this prospective, longitudinal study, we analyzed data from 128 participants who underwent baseline clinical and cognitive assessments, brain imaging, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood tests. We used the participant's age at baseline assessment and the parent's age at the onset of symptoms of Alzheimer's disease to …

High-Contrast Tandem Organic Light-Emitting Devices Employing Semitransparent Intermediate Layers Of Lif/Al/C60, Baofu Ding, Kamal Alameh

Research outputs 2012

The use of a black cathode with a metal-organic-metal structure is an attractive approach to achieving a high-contrast organic light-emitting device (OLED) for future-generation flat panel displays. However, the large reduction in OLED power efficiency is currently restricting the use of the black cathode for industrial applications. In this paper, a high-contrast, high-efficiency tandem OLED employing a black cathode is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The OLED is implemented by stacking two organic phase tuning layers between a composite intermediate layer of LiF/Al/C60 and LiF/Al and optimizing their thicknesses. Electroluminescence spectra and brightness-current measurement reveal that the phase tuning layer emits …

Security Specialists Are From Mars; Healthcare Practitioners Are From Venus: The Case For A Community-Of-Practice Approach To Security Architectures For Healthcare, Elizabeth Coles-Kemp, Patricia Williams

Research outputs 2012

Information security is a necessary requirement of information sharing in the healthcare environment. Research shows that the application of security in this setting is sometimes subject to work-arounds where healthcare practitioners feel forced to incorporate practices that they have not had an input into and with which they have not engaged with. This can result in a sense of security practitioners and healthcare practitioners being culturally very different in their approach to information systems. As a result such practices do not constitute part of their community of practice nor their identity. In order to respond to this, systems designers typically …

The Invisibility Of Covert Bullying Among Students: Challenges For School Intervention, Amy Barnes, Donna Cross, Leanne Lester, Lydia Hearn, Melanie Epstein, Helen Monks

Research outputs 2012

Covert bullying behaviours are at least as distressing for young people as overt forms of bullying, but often remain unnoticed or unacknowledged by adults. This invisibility is increased in schools by inattention to covert bullying in policy and practice, and limited staff understanding and skill to address covert behaviours. These factors can lead to a school culture that appears to tolerate and thus inadvertently encourages covert bullying. This study explores these dynamics in Australian primary and secondary schools, including the attitudes of over 400 staff towards covert bullying, their understanding of covert bullying behaviours, and their perceived capacity to address …

When Is A Bystander Not A Bystander? A Typology Of The Roles Of Bystanders In Workplace Bullying, Megan Paull, Maryam Omari, Peter Standen

Research outputs 2012

The role of the bystander is one which has received only a small portion of the research attention that has been paid to workplace bullying. This paper will argue that bystanders are not just incidental but are an integral part of the context of bullying. Drawing on qualitative data from two separate studies, a typology is presented which outlines thirteen potential roles bystanders can take. This typology can be employed as an awareness-raising tool to encourage individuals to examine their own behaviour in a range of situations, and to acknowledge that their actions, either deliberate or inadvertent, can contribute to …

Online Course Content Auditing: Templates And Practices, Justin Brown, Gregory Baatard

Research outputs 2012

This paper introduces and discusses the Blackboard Content Audit tool developed by a CS school within an Australian university. Based upon the key sections of a unit’s site in the Blackboard LMS, the tool establishes sets of basic, intermediate and advanced criteria and a rating scale upon which to assess the criteria. By specifying the basic criteria as a minimum standard, the consistency of unit sites can be improved. This helps to close the perceived quality gap between the schools online unit offerings, where in the past some staff had engaged more than others with the features of Blackboard. The …

A Data Mining Perspective Of The Dual Effect Of Rainfall And Temperature On Wheat Yield, Yunous Vagh, Jitian Xiao

Research outputs 2012

This paper presents the final investigation within the series of qualitative and quantitative investigations carried out for the processing and analysis of geographic land-use data in an agricultural context. The geographic data was made up of crop and cereal production land use profiles. These were linked to previously recorded climatic data from fixed weather stations in Australia that was interpolated using ordinary krigeing to fit a grid surface. In this study, the profiles for the stochastic average monthly temperature and rainfall for a selected study area were used to determine their simultaneous effects on crop production at the shire level. …

Lifestyle And Late Life Cognitive Health: Sufficient Evidence To Act Now?, Bruce Barber, D Ames, Kathryn Ellis, Ralph Martins, C Masters, C Szoeke

Research outputs 2012

No abstract provided.

A Technical Guide To Designing And Implementing Effective Web Surveys, Gregory Baatard

Research outputs 2012

: The Internet is becoming an increasingly prominent medium for the administration of surveys. Although individual findings vary, the major‐ ity of the literature agrees that the appropriateness and response rates of web surveys is expected to rise in the future as we enter a generation of “digital natives” and mail‐based communication becomes increasingly an‐ tiquated. Just about every aspect and tenet of traditional survey metho‐ dology has received attention in academic literature, positioning it as one of the most mature data collection techniques and a mainstay in all areas of research. While much of this accumulated knowledge is applicable …

Exploration Games Played On A Ddr Pad Can Constitute Beneficial Physical Exercise, Kimthy Nguyen, Bohan Li, Martin Masek, Yuwanuch Gulatee

Research outputs 2012

The addition of an exercise component to computer games is a method that attempts to increase exercise compliance among the population. Various attempts at such games have been made, both commercially and as research projects, but the set of studied game mechanics that are both entertaining and provide beneficial exercise are relatively small. In our work, a game mechanic was designed for a floor-based input controller (DDR Pad). Rather than the standard mechanic usually employed for this device, our approach allows the player to explore a virtual world, requiring exertive movements on the input device in order to progress. The …

Diffraction Of Digital Micromirror Device Gratings And Its Effect On Properties Of Tunable Fiber Lasers, Xiao Chen, Binbin Yan, Feijun Song, Yiquan Wang, Feng Xiao, Kamal Alameh

Research outputs 2012

A digital micromirror device (DMD) is a kind of widely used spatial light modulator. We apply DMD as wavelength selector in tunable fiber lasers. Based on the two-dimensional diffraction theory, the diffraction of DMD and its effect on properties of fiber laser parameters are analyzed in detail. The theoretical results show that the diffraction efficiency is strongly dependent upon the angle of incident light and the pixel spacing of DMD. Compared with the other models of DMDs, the 0.55 in. DMD grating is an approximate blazed state in our configuration, which makes most of the diffracted radiation concentrated into one …

Scd1 Plays A Tumor-Suppressive Role In Survival Of Leukemia Stem Cells And The Development Of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, H Zhang, H Li, N Ho, Dongguang Li, Shaoguang Li

Research outputs 2012

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is derived from a stem cell, and it is widely accepted that the existence of leukemia stem cells (LSCs) is one of the major reasons for the relapse of CML treated with kinase inhibitors. Key to eradicating LSCs is to identify genes that play a critical role in survival regulation of these stem cells. Using BCR-ABL-induced CML mouse model, here we show that expression of the stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (Scd1) gene is downregulated in LSCs and that Scd1 plays a tumor-suppressive role in LSCs with no effect on the function of normal hematopoietic stem cells. Deletion …

Evidence For Practice: Whole-School Strategies To Enhance Students' Social Skills And Reduce Bullying In Schools, Donna Cross (Ed.)

Research outputs 2012

While bullying behaviour is widespread and harmful in schools, research conducted at the Child Health Promotion Research Centre (CHPRC) at Edith Cowan University and elsewhere11 - 31 suggests bullying behaviour can be reduced. The CHPRC research team's ongoing empirical research, conducted since 1999, has focused primarily on what schools can do to effectively prevent and reduce bullying behaviour.

One of the most effective means to reduce bullying among young people is to enhance their social and emotional understandings and competencies, in developmentally appropriate ways throughout their schooling, using a whole-school approach. Friendly Schools Plus addresses the social and emotional learning …

Two Maximal Isometric Contractions Attenuate The Magnitude Of Eccentric Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage, Hsin-Lian Chen, Kazunori Nosaka, Alan Pearce, Trevor C Chen

Research outputs 2012

This study investigated whether maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVC-ISO) would attenuate the magnitude of eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage. Young untrained men were placed into one of the two experimental groups or one control group (n = 13 per group). Subjects in the experimental groups performed either two or 10 MVC-ISO of the elbow flexors at a long muscle length (20° flexion) 2 days prior to 30 maximal isokinetic eccentric contractions of the elbow flexors. Subjects in the control group performed the eccentric contractions without MVC-ISO. No significant changes in maximal voluntary concentric contraction peak torque, peak torque angle, range of …

Improvement In Cbr Of The Expansive Soil Subgrades With A Single Reinforcement Layer, A Choudhary, K Gill, J Jha, Sanjay Shukla

Research outputs 2012

The performance of a pavement is very sensitive to the characteristics of the soil subgrade, which provides a base for the whole pavement structure. It is therefore of utmost importance that the performance of such pavements is improved by adopting proper design and construction methodology. This paper presents the results of a series of California bearing ratio (CBR) and swell tests to evaluate the beneficial effects of placing a single layer of reinforcement horizontally at vmying depths fl·om the top smface of the subgrade soil. The position of the reinforcing layer is optimized for two different types of reinforcement namely, …

Internalising Symptoms: An Antecedent Or Precedent In Adolescent Peer Victimisation?, Leanne Lester, Donna Cross, Julian Dooley, Therese Shaw

Research outputs 2012

The transition period from primary to secondary school is a critical time in adolescent development. The high prevalence of adolescent mental health problems makes understanding the causal pathways between peer victimisation and internalising symptoms an important priority during this time. This article utilises data collected from self-completion questionnaires four times over 3 years from 3,459 students’ aged 11–14 to examine directional relationships among adolescents as they transition from primary to secondary school, and investigates gender differences in these associations. The findings suggest depression in males is both a precedent and antecedent for victimisation over the transition period, whereas for females …

Lessons For Teachers: What Lower Secondary School Students Tell Us About Learning A Musical Instrument, Geoffrey Lowe

Research outputs 2012

In this study I set out to investigate why many students drop out from elective instrument programmes, particularly in lower secondary school. I examined the values and beliefs a sample of students in their first year in secondary school attach to learning an instrument, and the impact of the instrument lesson upon these values and beliefs. Forty-eight year 8 students (aged 12-13) from the Perth metropolitan area participated in eight focus groups. The study found that, while participants had strong cognitive and affective reasons for learning, their competence beliefs were fragile, due in part to the dislocation associated with the …

School Administrators' Beliefs That Actual School Improvements Were Due To Formal School Registration: Guttman Scales And Their Inter-Correlations, Harm Witten, Russell Waugh, Jan Gray

Research outputs 2012

This paper presents an investigation into the attitudes of School Administrators to the relationship between formal school registration and school improvement. It concerns a mandatory inspection-type registration process for all Non-Government Schools in Western Australia. Part of the aim of this registration process was to help schools improve twelve educational and administrative aspects. These were: (1) School Governance, (2) School Financial Viability, (3) Enrolments & Attendance, (4) Number of Students, (5) Instructional Time, (6) School Staff, (7) School Infrastructure, (8) School Curriculum, (9) Student Learning Outcomes, (10) Care for Students, (11) Disputes and Complaints, (12) Legal Compliance. A questionnaire based …

Strength A Strong Predictor Of Paddling Performance In Competitive Surfers, Jeremy Sheppard, Phil Mcnamara, Mark Osborne, Mark Andrews, Dale Chapman

Research outputs 2012

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of The Effects Of Exchange Rates On Australia's Inbound Tourism Growth: A Multivariate Conditional Volatility Approach, Ghialy Choy Lee Yap

Research outputs 2012

The appreciation of the Australian dollar has been a concern as Australia has become less competitive compared to neighbouring countries. This paper investigates to what extent exchange rates could adversely affect Australia's inbound tourism and whether volatility in exchange rates could increase the uncertainty in international tourist arrivals to Australia. The study is based on nine countries of origin, namely China, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, the UK and the USA for the period January 1991 to January 2011. It uses multivariate conditional volatility regressions to model the time-varying conditional variances of international tourism growth and exchange …

Assessment Of Climate Change Effect On Water Harvesting Structures In Rainfed Regions: Geospatial Data Mining Approach, Sreedhar Nallan, Leisa Armstrong

Research outputs 2012

Advances in the Information and Technologies (ICT) may assist researchers in the assessment of watershed development programmes by developing better visualization understanding of their impacts. GIS based research studies utilizing remote sensing images can facilitate in identifying the potential zones for watershed development and enable improved ground water resources. Effective watershed management is dependent on a number of factors such as demography, climate, soil, land use and topography and these are affected by changing climatic conditions. For example, changes in rainfall intensity and volume in rain fed areas can influence the effectiveness of the placement of watershed structures. Existing methods …

The Employment Of Skilled Migrants On Temporary 457 Visas In Australia: Emerging Issues, Susanne Bahn, Llandis Barratt-Pugh, Ghialy Choy Lee Yap

Research outputs 2012

Australia is characterised as a migrant nation, and yet rhetoric rather than evidence-based research dominates current discussion about skilled migration. This paper reports on the scoping phase of a national industry-collaborative study that explores the issues associated with employing skilled migrants entering Australia on temporary 457 visas. It is well established that the Australian economy is currently almost unique amongst first world nations in entering an extended phase of growth fuelled by the developing nations' hunger for natural resources. How Australia should balance the current need for skilled migrants to sustain this growth, with the concerns for sustainable population growth, …

Gamma Irradiation In Fibre Bragg Gratings, Desmond Baccini, Steven Hinckley, Graham Wild, Connie Banos, Justin B. Davies

Research outputs 2012

We report a preliminary study of gamma radiation effects on the current generation of optical fibre Bragg grating sensors, and the effects of relaxation after gamma irradiation, as a function of dose.

The Australian Baby Bonus Maternity Payment And Birth Characteristics In Western Australia, Kristjana Einarsdottir, Amanda Langridge, Geoffrey Hammond, Anthony Gunnell, Fatima Haggar, Fiona Stanley

Research outputs 2012

Background: The Australian baby bonus maternity payment introduced in 2004 has been reported to have successfully increased fertility rates in Australia. We aimed to investigate the influence of the baby bonus on maternal demographics and birth characteristics in Western Australia (WA). Methods and Findings: This study included 200,659 birth admissions from WA during 2001–2008, identified from administrative birth and hospital data-systems held by the WA Department of Health. We estimated average quarterly birth rates after the baby bonus introduction and compared them with expected rates had the policy not occurred. Rate and percentage differences (including 95% confidence intervals) were estimated …

Finite Element Analysis Of Laterally Loaded Piles In Sloping Ground, Vishwas Sawant, Sanjay Shukla

Research outputs 2012

The available analytical methods of analysis for laterally loaded piles in level ground cannot be directly applied to such piles in sloping ground. With the commercially available software, the simulation of the appropriate field condition is a challenging task, and the results are subjective. Therefore, it becomes essential to understand the process of development of a user-framed numerical formulation, which may be used easily as per the specific site conditions without depending on other indirect methods of analysis as well as on the software. In the present study, a detailed three-dimensional finite element formulation is presented for the analysis of …

Using The Critical Incident Technique To Research Decision Making Regarding Access To Training And Development In Medium-Sized Enterprises, Alan Coetzer, Janice Redmond, Jalleh Sharafizad

Research outputs 2012

Employees in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) form part of a 'disadvantaged' group within the workforce that receives less access to training and development (T & D) than employees in large firms. Prior research into reasons for the relatively low levels of employee participation in training and development has typically involved surveys of owner/manager opinions. A novel and potentially more fruitful line of inquiry is investigating decisions managers have actually made regarding employee access to T & D. Building on this idea, we describe how the critical incident technique (CIT) was applied in our exploratory study of managerial decision making …

The Loneliness Of The Long-Distance Principal: Tales From Remote Western Australia, Graeme Lock, Fiona Budgen, Grace Oakley, Ralph Lunay

Research outputs 2012

This research investigated the experience of leadership in an isolated school. Data were obtained through structured and semi-structured interviews (Burns, 2000) with a total of eight principals whose experience of leadership in remote communities ranged from new recruits to several decades. Three research questions guided the investigation: What are the social-biographical characteristics of principals in isolated schools? What are the characteristics of the schools? What are the professional and pedagogical aspects of their current position? The interviews were conducted while the principals were gathered at a central location for professional learning workshops prior to the beginning of a new term. …

Which To Become? Encountering Fungi In Australian Poetry, John Ryan

Research outputs 2012

As a largely unexplored group of organisms, fungi are ecologically complex members of the Australian biota. Fungi represent non-human alterity and interstitiality-neither animal not plant, beautiful yet evanescent, slimy and lethal, and eliding scientific categorisations. Donna Haraway's notion of "companion species" and Anna Tsing's "arts of inclusion" remind us that sensory entanglements are intrinsic to human-fungi relations. Drawing conceptually from Haraway and Tsing, this paper will examine examples of poetry from John Shaw Neilson, Jan Owen, Douglas Stewart, Geoffrey Dutton, Caroline Caddy, Michael Dransfield, Philip Hodgins, Jaime Grant and John Kinsella that represent sensory involvements with fungi based in smell, …

Visual Saliency Based On Fast Nonparametric Multidimensional Entropy Estimation, A. C. Ngo, G. Qiu, G. Underwood, Li-Minn Ang, K. P. Seng

Research outputs 2012

Bottom-up visual saliency can be computed through information theoretic models but existing methods face significant computational challenges. Whilst nonparametric methods suffer from the curse of dimensionality problem and are computationally expensive, parametric approaches have the difficulty of determining the shape parameters of the distribution models. This paper makes two contributions to information theoretic based visual saliency models. First, we formulate visual saliency as center surround conditional entropy which gives a direct and intuitive interpretation of the center surround mechanism under the information theoretic framework. Second, and more importantly, we introduce a fast nonparametric multidimensional entropy estimation solution to make information …

Building Patient Trust In Electronic Health Records, Helen Cripps, Craig Standing

Research outputs 2012

While electronic medical records have the potential to vastly improve a patient’s health care, their introduction also raises new and complex security and privacy issues. The challenge of preserving what patients’ believe as their privacy in the context of the introduction of the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR), into the multi-layered and decentralised Australian health system is discussed. Based on a number of European case studies the paper outlines the institutional measures for privacy and security that have been put in place, and compares them with the current status in Australia. The implementation of the PCEHR has not been …