Digital Commons Network^™

The Evolution Of Global Legal Pluralism, Paul Schiff Berman

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Global Legal Pluralism is now recognized as an entrenched reality of the international and transnational legal order. Indeed, wherever one looks, there is conflict among multiple legal regimes. Some of these regimes are state-based, some are built and maintained by non-state actors, some fall within the purview of local authorities and jurisdictional entities, and some involve international courts, tribunals, arbitral bodies, and regulatory organizations.

It has been approximately 20 years since scholars first began pushing the insights of legal pluralism into the transnational and international arena. During those two decades, a rich body of work has established pluralism as a …

Awareness As A First Step Toward Overcoming Implicit Bias, Cynthia Lee

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

In this book chapter, Cynthia Lee explains that raising awareness of implicit bias is a necessary first step toward eliminating such bias. Lee discusses various ways legal actors can raise awareness about implicit bias, including implicit bias trainings and jury instructions attempting to educate jurors about implicit bias. She concludes that making racial bias (or other types of bias) salient is probably the most effective way to raise awareness of implicit bias in the courtroom setting and discusses the social science literature that supports this conclusion. In light of some studies suggesting that making bias salient may backfire, she suggests …

Introduction, Naomi R. Cahn, June Carbone

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This is an introduction to a symposium issue that brings together two different sets of paper. The first set of papers were written in honor of Catharine A. MacKinnon, “Legal Feminism: Looking Back, Looking Forward.;” The second set of papers are drawn from a conference on “The Family-Inequality Debate: A Workshop on Coercion, Class, and Paternal Participation."

Accommodation For Adults With Intellectual Disability: Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Ageing Parent Carers And The Reasons Behind Their Decision To Continue To Care In The Family Home, Wendy Simpson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

As life expectancy increases and mortality rates decrease, Australia is faced with an ageing population. This is particularly true of the population of people living with intellectual disability. Australian research has found that there is an increasing number of ageing parent-carers continuing to provide care for their adult child with an intellectual disability in the family home. Since deinstitutionalisation, many families made the choice to provide care at home, which may become a concern as they age and ask the question “who will care when I am gone?” The purpose of this study was to explore the reasoning behind decisions …

Chinese Nursing Students At Australian Universities: A Narrative Inquiry Into Their Motivation, Learning Experience, And Future Career Planning, Carol Chungfeng Wang

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study presents a narrative inquiry of Chinese nursing students at Australian universities in order to examine these students’ motivations, learning experiences and future career planning. Australia seeks to attract international nursing students from China to maintain its economic advantage and alleviate its projected nursing shortage. In contrast, China desperately needs its best and brightest citizens who have trained abroad as nurses to return to China in order to cope with its current challenges in the healthcare system and nursing education. Little is known about the underlying factors that motivate Chinese nursing students to study in Australia, these students’ learning …

‘Fighting A Losing Battle’: A Glaserian Grounded Theory Of Midwives’ Workplace Stress, Sadie Margaret Geraghty

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The development of the midwifery profession and the culture of childbirth are inevitably entwined from an historical perspective through to current day practice. Early written accounts describe the fifteenth century midwife as dealing with high maternal and child mortality rates, the invention of forceps, the rise of male obstetric practitioners, and the complex social and cultural changes of that era. The twenty-first century midwife faces challenges in Australia and worldwide, which are not dissimilar to our midwifery predecessors.

Midwifery clinical practice has become more complex due to the medicalisation of childbirth and 21st century lifestyles, which have contributed to a …

What Is English Now? The Construction Of Subject English In Contemporary Textbooks For Australian Secondary Schools, Shannon L. Wells

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Australian educators are currently engaged in widening debates about the performance of the nation’s schools, teachers and students. Perceived literacy deficits among secondary students have fuelled the debate, and this has precipitated reforms to English curricula at both National and State levels. The newly revised curricula attempt to improve student achievement through more systematic teaching about the English language and language skills. In response to the changes, major education publishers in Australia have released revised textbooks for English that purport to engage with the new curriculum.

This research study considered whether such new resources offer genuinely fresh and effective approaches …

Development Of The Meal Framework: A Multiliteracies Approach To Engaging Adolescents In Nutrition Education, Samantha Lee Baker

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Establishing and maintaining a healthy diet is integral in promoting optimal health, growth and development. Moreover, the food choices we make and dietary behaviours we adopt are a reflection of the multiple personal, interpersonal and environmental factors to which we are exposed. Consequently, changing food habits and dietary behaviour is complex and requires the implementation of multifaceted public health strategies. Comprehensive nutrition education provided to adolescents during their school years is one such approach.

Adolescence is a period of rapid psychological and physiological changes. At a socioemotional level, there is a decreased level of dependence on parents and a greater …

The Performance Analysis Of Power Output In Professional Male Road Cyclists, Alan J. Metcalfe

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Athletes regularly monitor exercise workload in an attempt to improve and maintain exercise performance. Within road cycling, workload is commonly measured using power output. Yet, it is plausible that power output during road cycling is influenced by several factors such as topography, road gradient or rider specialities. If these factors do influence power output they may influence quantification of workload demands. As such, the purpose of this thesis was to improve our understanding of external workload in professional road cycling and describe the factors which influence power output during performance analysis. Specifically, this thesis examined the power output within single …

The Connection Between Drug Use And Crime In Western Australia, Kathryn Riordan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Despite decades of research, there is no consensus as to the factors that explain the association between drug use and criminal behaviour. While the evolving sophistication in research methodology has identified factors that are associated with involvement in both drug use and crime, exploration of the idiosyncratic factors that contribute to initiation, maintenance and desistence in drug use and criminal behaviour over time, across culture and social context remains unknown. In this research a grounded theory approach was used to develop an explanatory model based on the reported experiences of 22 non-Aboriginal and 11 Aboriginal adult male offenders, incarcerated in …

School Social Work: Supporting Children’S Primary Education In The South West Of Western Australia, Karen Mcdavitt

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In many countries, social workers play a role in the education of children. In Australia, this is evident in the state of Victoria which has a long history of school social work. However, it is not the case in Western Australia where there are very few government-funded social work roles in public schools. With the barriers to education rising for increasing numbers of students, the social work profession could be one component in a multi-disciplinary whole that supports students and the broader community so that each child has the best chance of reaching their full potential.

This thesis poses the …

Primary Students’ Engagement With The Visual Arts And Their Transition Into Year 7, Zoe Wittber

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Visual Arts education is fundamental to an effective school curriculum for primary and secondary students. It provides students with opportunities for expression and personal growth, essential to a holistic education. Recently, in Perth, Western Australia (WA) several secondary Visual Arts educators expressed what they saw as a significant deficit in the outcomes of Making and Responding in Visual Arts, evidenced in their Year 7 students who had recently graduated from primary school. Consequently, this research investigated the extent of Year 7 students’ prior Visual Arts experiences upon entry into secondary school.

The research engaged a qualitative research approach to gather …

Evaluation Of Acceptance And Efficiency Of Exercise For Indigenous Australians To Benefit Physiological, Anthropometric And Metabolic Syndrome Outcomes, Tuguy Esgin

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The proposed study will provide an increased understanding in a much-understudied area of how the Australian Indigenous community perceives physical activity and the beneficial effects for improving health outcomes.

The PhD will be made up of three studies:

1) To design an exercise prescription that is culturally appropriate and specifically addresses the major Indigenous health issues around metabolic syndrome.

The first will be a cross sectional study that surveys the motivators and barriers to physical activity within the Perth Noongar community. The results of this study will be used to enhance the intervention section of the PhD. It will provide …

Voice In Screenwriting: Discovering/Recovering An Australian Voice, Rosemary Kaye Ferrell

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This creative practice research explores the concept of an identifiable screenwriter’s voice from the perspective of screenwriting as craft, proposing that voice can be understood and described based on its particular characteristics. Voice is understood to be the authorial presence of the screenwriter, whose mind shapes every aspect of the text. This presence is inscribed in the text through the many choices the screenwriter makes. More than this, the research argues that the choices made inflect the text with a cultural-national worldview. This occurs because of the close association between voice and personal (including cultural/national) identity, and because of the …

The Effects Of Augmented Feedback On Pacing And Performance Of Elite Combat Athletes, Israel Halperin

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Augmented feedback has been shown to improve performance and influence pacing in various physical activities. However, few studies have investigated its effects on performance and pacing in striking combat sports. Additionally, despite the plethora of studies examining the influence of feedback in untrained individuals, there is a lack of research examining the effects of such feedback in trained participants. Considering the important role of feedback in training and competition, the purpose of this thesis is to examine the effects of three different but inter-dependent methods of augmented feedback on performance of combat, and resistance trained athletes.

Study 1 examined the …

The Prevalence Of Twice Exceptional Students In The Gat Academic Programs: The Near Miss Phenomena, Lynne Ivicevic

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Twice exceptional (TE) students often experience barriers to their participation in gifted academic programs that contribute to their marginalised status amongst the school gifted population. The estimated prevalence of TE students in gifted programs worldwide varies according to the location, identification means and definition, with little agreement reached between researchers in the field. This research was made up of three interrelated studies. Firstly, six years of longitudinal quantitative cohort data from the Western Australian Department of Education (DoE) database on selected students for the GAT programs including GAT Academic programs and TE students to determine TE prevalence. Secondly, disability prevalence …

Dry Land Strength And Power Training To Enhance Swimming In-Water Turn Performance, Julian Jones

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Undertaking dry-land strength and power training to increase leg extensor power output is believed to increase a swimmer’s ability to start and turn during a swim race. Swimmers generally undertake dry-land strength and power training as part of their overall training regime to increase lower body force output and impulse, in order to improve both swim start and turning performance. Elite swimmers demonstrate faster swimming turn times that are potentially a result of having better strength-power characteristics than sub-elite swimmers. The aim of this research was to quantify differences in dry-land and swimming turn leg extensor force-time characteristics between elite …

Workplace Bullying: An Exploratory Study In Australian Academia, Manish Sharma

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Workplace bullying is a behaviour which adversely affects individuals, organisations and the community at large. While substantial research has been conducted on workplace bullying in different work settings, limited research exists on this behaviour at universities; no comprehensive studies have to date been conducted in the context of Australian academia. This study therefore contributes through breaking new ground by exploring bullying within the increasingly corporatised and competitive Australian higher education sector. New Public Management (NPM) practices, diminished government funding, and limited resources risk transforming this sector into a full-fledged industry focused on corporate objectives to achieve operational profitability. Universities’ primary …

Activity Behavior And Physiological Profile Of Advanced-Stage Ovarian Cancer Survivors, Christelle Schofield

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Background: Advanced-stage ovarian cancer survivors (OCS) often experience a multitude of disease symptoms and treatment-related side-effects. Additionally, most OCS are older, have comorbidities, are overweight or obese, and report being insufficiently physically active. Ovarian cancer survivors may benefit from exercise oncology interventions to reduce symptom-burden, manage comorbidities, minimize functional decline and maximize health-related quality of life (HRQoL). However, current knowledge gaps regarding the physiological characteristics of OCS throughout the entire survivorship spectrum challenge the development of tailored exercise interventions.

Purpose: The overall purpose of this thesis was to provide a more comprehensive physiological and activity behavior profile of post-treatment advanced-stage …

Exploring The Impact Of Postgraduate Preservice Primary Science Education On Students’ Self-Efficacy, Christina Maria Norris

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The effectiveness of science teaching in primary school is dependent upon teachers’ self-efficacy to teach science. Low self-efficacy has been linked to avoidance of teaching primary science; therefore, preservice teacher self-efficacy requires fostering to have graduates keen to teach primary science. Through an embedded mixed method intrinsic-case study, this research explored the impact of postgraduate preservice primary science education on students’ self-efficacy. This research examined the postgraduate students’ self-efficacy as the lens to determine the effectiveness of the design and pedagogical instruction of the unit and its tutors. Data sources included the use of pre/post surveys encompassing the Science Teaching …

The Human Factors Associated With Responding To Emergency Vehicles, Pauline Grant

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Emergency vehicles undertake emergency driving, using lights and sirens, to move rapidly through traffic in response to situations where life and property are at risk. For the emergency driving to be effective, other motorists need to drive in a manner that facilitates their passage. Despite laws to support this, problematic encounters can result in emergency vehicles being unable to get through. The current research expanded on earlier exploratory research into motorists’ encounters with emergency vehicles (Grant, 2010) to examine psychological factors involved with motorists’ responses to emergency vehicles. A construct validity approach was used to develop a scale …

Changes In Depressive Symptoms Among Older Adults With Multiple Chronic Conditions: Role Of Positive And Negative Social Supports, Sangnam Ahn, Seonghoon Kim, Hongmei Zhang

Research Collection School Of Economics

Depression severely affects older adults in the United States. As part of the social environment, significant social support was suggested to ameliorate depression among older adults. We investigate how varying forms of social support moderate depressive symptomatology among older adults with multiple chronic conditions (MCC). Data were analyzed using a sample of 11,400 adults, aged 65 years or older, from the 2006–2012 Health and Retirement Study. The current study investigated the moderating effects of positive or negative social support from spouse, children, other family, and friends on the association between MCC and depression. A linear mixed model with repeated measures …

Arabian Aesthetics In European Modernism, Ferial J. Ghazoul

Faculty Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Perioperative Adverse Neurological Events Associated With Anesthetic Management At A Tertiary Care Center Of A Developing Country, Fauzia Anis Khan, Sobia Khan, Gauhar Afshan

Department of Anaesthesia

Background and Aims: Existing literature on neurological complications related to anesthesia is reported from affluent countries but the trends may vary in less affluent countries.MATERIAL AND Methods: The objective was to find the associated factors contributing to neurological adverse events occurring within 48 h of anesthesia and surgery. The existing departmental morbidity and mortality database was reviewed from 1992 to 2012 for major adverse neurological events. A standardized methodology was used in reviewing and classifying the data. All adverse events were predefined and categorized before filling the form into the following headers; meningitis, cord/plexus/peripheral nerve injury, stroke, paraparesis/paraplegia/quadriparesis/or quadriplegia, new …

Men’S Help-Seeking In The First Year After Diagnosis Of Localised Prostate Cancer, M. K. Hyde, Robert Newton, Daniel A. Galvao, Robert Gardiner, S. Occhipinti, A. Lowe, G. A. Wittert, Suzanne K. Chambers

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This study describes sources of support utilised by men with localised prostate cancer in the first year after diagnosis and examines characteristics associated with help-seeking for men with unmet needs. A cross-sectional survey of 331 patients from a population-based sample who were in the first year after diagnosis (M = 9.6, SD = 1.9) was conducted to assess sources of support, unmet supportive care needs, domain-specific quality of life and psychological distress. Overall, 82% of men reported unmet supportive care needs. The top five needs were sexuality (58%); prostate cancer-specific (57%); psychological (47%); physical and daily living (41%); and health …

Neoliberal Governance And ‘Responsibilization’ Of Agents: Reassessing The Mechanisms Of Responsibility-Shift In Neoliberal Discursive Environments, Jarkko Pyysiäinen, Darren R. Halpin, Andrew M. Guilfoyle Dr

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The ‘governmentality’ approach has been influential in analyzing how neoliberal governance transfers responsibility to individual agents through an ‘appeal of freedom’ mechanism. This productive conceptualization of power has generated a solid body of research on the workings of (neo)liberal governance and contemporary Western capitalism. However, such research has largely ignored a complementary mechanism characteristic of situations where ‘appeal of freedom’ lets actors down, that is, dynamics of ‘threat to personal control’. Studies focusing and elaborating on this aspect, and ‘control constructs’ more generally, have remained mostly within the disciplinary boundaries of (social) psychology. In this paper we aim to bring …

Opening The Black Box: The Mediating Roles Of Organisational Systems And Ambidexterity In The Hrm-Performance Link In Public Sector Organisations, Geoff Plimmer, Jane Bryson, Stephen T. Teo

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how HIWS may shape organisational capabilities, in particular organisational ambidexterity (OA) – the ability to be both adaptable to the wider world, and internally aligned so that existing resources are used well. Given the demands on public agencies to manage conflicting objectives, and to do more with less in increasingly complex environments, this paper improves our understanding of how HIWS can contribute to public sector performance. The paper sheds light inside the black box of the HIWS/organisational performance link.

Design/methodology/approach

This multi-level quantitative study is based on a survey of 2,123 …

Overview Of Australian Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Health Status 2016, Australian Indigenous Healthinfonet

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the most recent indicators of the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Information focuses on:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations
• the context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health
• various measures of population health status
• selected health conditions
• health risk and protective factors.

The Overview shows that the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continues to improve slowly and there has been a decline in the death rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and also a significant closing of the gap in death rates …

The Multiple Facets Of Empathy, Magdalena Boch, Claus Lamm

Animal Sentience

We discuss the definition of empathy provided by Kujala (2017) and argue that research in this field, in assigning the cognitive component of empathy only a secondary role, misses crucial information. Further knowledge about dogs’ ability for higher cognitive processes helps (a) in interpreting results such as potential prosocial behavior in dogs and (b) sheds light on the question of whether abilities like perspective-taking and self-other distinction are uniquely human.

Studying Dog Emotion Beyond Expression And Without Concern For Feeling, Peter F. Cook

Animal Sentience

Studies of dog emotion have focused on the expression of social emotion, either because this is taken to suggest human-like feeling states in dogs or because it has been the most accessible signal of dog emotional processing. I argue for an approach grounded in affective neuroscience, relying on direct measures of physiology across different contexts. This work may be particularly fertile in exploring social emotion in the dog, not because dogs necessarily share human emotional states, but because they are unique in having likely evolved to fit a human social niche.