Digital Commons Network^™

Young People Who Fireset In Western Australia: Peer Group Influences And Impulsiveness Trump Consequences, Catherine Analise Timms

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The paradoxical character of fire is perfectly captured by the juxtaposition between the initial ease and excitement of lighting fires, and fire’s destructive and uncontrollable nature. Australia is fire prone with its hot, dry climate, volatile vegetation and urban sprawl surrounded by bushland. Since an estimated 50% of fires lit in Australia are deliberate (Stanley & Read, 2016) the problem of intentional firesetting cannot be overstated. This thesis argues that youth firesetting requires both macro- and microlevel approaches to appreciate the complexities of the problem, and aims to identify applicable and directed responses to minimise youth firesetting. Study one analysed …

Examining The Perceived Benefit Of Education For Aboriginal Secondary Students In Western Australia, Mary-Anne Macdonald

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Indigenous and remote Australians have lower education and employment levels than non- Indigenous and urban Australians and face continued socio-economic disadvantage. Many contemporary voices have called for quantitative evidence for Indigenous education policy. The current thesis responds to this gap in the literature by developing a factor model of Indigenous education engagement, and supports this with regression equations and qualitative interviews exploring the impact of various experiences on Indigenous engagement with secondary school. The current study found that, despite gap in attendance rates, Year 12 completion rates, and tertiary education enrolment and completion, Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants alike ascribed a …

Effects Of Long-Term Participation In Tennis On Cognitive Function In Elderly Individuals, Scott Culpin

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Many studies have reported the relationship between exercise and cognition with conflicting results. This may be due to differences in intervention durations, session lengths, intensities, and type of exercise. It has been suggested that exercises requiring greater cognitive demand such as football, basketball and racquet sports, are protective against cognitive decline, compared to less cognitively demanding exercises such as swimming, cycling and running, however, research concerning exercise types are currently limited. The present study tested the hypothesis that elderly individuals who had been regularly playing tennis more than 10 years, would have greater cognitive function than those who had been …

An Investigation Into The Creation Of Goal Scoring Opportunities In Women’S International Football; And A Comparison To Men’S International Football, Mark Scanlan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Football is the most popular sport in the world, played in over two hundred countries and it is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), who host a World Cup every four year for both men and women. Women’s football is growing in terms of popularity, with this growth in popularity, research into the women’s game has begun to emerge. However, to date there is very little published research in women’s football that describes effective attacking strategies and the creation of goal scoring opportunities (GSO). Video of each match (52) from the Women’s World Cup (Canada 2015) was …

Social Justice For Sex Trafficked Females And Sex Workers In Jordan, Nora Tawfiq Samoudi (Dekaidek)

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis explores social practices, policies and laws constituting criminal and social justice approaches to providing services and amenities for the sex trafficked females in Jordan. As the discussion of sex trafficked females overlaps with sex workers, this research explores the human rights of both groups who experience different forms of gender-based violence. To understand the protection, care and support that Jordan provides, I interviewed seven service providers offering protection for victims of sex trafficking. Also, I analysed the semiprohibitionist Jordanian Penal Code and the Human Trafficking Legislation that criminalise sex trafficking perpetrators and sex-related actions. This research relies on …

Rogue: A Novel - And - Wonderlust: The Value Of Wonder For Readers, Writers, And The Vault: A Critical Essay, Amanda Betts

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis consists of an original novel, Rogue, and an exegesis titled Wonderlust: the value of wonder for readers, writers, and The Vault.

Rogue is the second novel of the series titled The Vault, which is a speculative fiction duology for young adults (thirteen and above) with the possibility for crossover into adult readership. Rogue picks up the story of fifteen-year-old Hayley who, after choosing to leave her previous home of an underwater seed vault, finds herself washed onto the cliffs of Maria Island, off the coast of Tasmania. As Hayley ventures further into the terrestrial ‘real world’ …

Does Facial Physiognomy In The Context Of Anoccupational Safety And Health Message Predict Outcomes?, Ian Parker

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Physiognomy, the practice of looking to another person’s outward facial appearance to unmask the inner character of that person, has had a diverse historical impact within art, medicine, theology, anthropology, law, criminology, political history, psychology, psychiatry, and popular culture, since it was conceptualised in Greece during the 5th and 4th centuries B.C (Physiognomy, 1999-2009, 2009a). Aristotle, the prominent Greek philosopher, penned many chapters on physiognomic properties and touched upon strength/weakness, genius/stupidity, and other trait characteristics and their opposites in so far as such characteristics were associated with facial form (Physiognomy, 2006, 2009b).

In more modern times, facial recognition and evaluation …

No-One Was Watching: A Collection Of Short Fiction And Stories Beyond The Gates: An Exegesis, Ann Elizabeth Horner

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research project asserts the primacy of creative practice as a key method of enquiry and explores how fictional stories, re-imagined from historical events of the mid-twentieth century, may provide different ways of viewing a world which was inhabited by once-silenced children, now known as the ‘forgotten Australians’. To this end, the thesis is made up of a creative component in the form of a book-length collection of short fiction that is accompanied by a critical component positioning the thesis contextually, theoretically and methodologically. The research reveals overwhelming evidence of a culture of endemic abuse within Australian child welfare organisations …

An Unfamiliar Face, An Unfamiliar Environment: Investigating Educators’ Understanding Of Their Attachment Relationships With Infants And Toddlers In Early Childhood Education And Care Settings, Nadia Wilson-Ali

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Attachment theory has influenced research, policy and practice over the last six decades, offering a framework for understanding risk and protective factors in early childhood. However, this work has primarily been influenced from a medical health or psychological perspective. Despite the literature highlighting the importance of attachment relationships, there is limited research relating to educators’ knowledge and understanding of attachment theory. The first years of life are considered a sensitive period for attachment development, and with families increasingly utilising formal care for their infants and toddlers, educators are in a prime position to use attachment theory to inform their practices …

Comparing Live To Recorded Music And Stories Using Multiple Psychoneuroendocrine And Psychological Measures, Ronniet Orlando

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Listening to music brings health benefits, according to an expanding opus of empirical research. Studies to date cover a wide range of music interventions and outcome measures. Music has been applied to healthy participants, as well as clinical populations to target anxiety and pain. But little is known about whether live music is more effective than recorded music as an intervention for these common symptoms.

This exploratory study sought answers with the emerging science of saliva analysis, which focuses on biomarkers that indicate stress and immune function. In this case salivary cortisol, alpha-amylase, immunoglobulin-A, interleukin- 1beta, and pH levels were …

The Utility Of Multidisciplinary Rehabilitation As A Treatment Strategy For Circadian Rhythm And Sleep Disturbances In Premanifest Huntington’S Disease, Danielle Megan Bartlett

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Background: Huntington’s disease (HD) is a rare, neurodegenerative disease caused by an expanded cytosine-adenine-guanine (CAG) sequence in the Huntingtin gene, resulting in the production of an aberrant protein, mutant huntingtin (mHTT). The mHTT protein exhibits a toxic loss and gain in function, leading to degeneration of neurons in the brain. Consequently, the classic triad of motor, cognitive and mood features of the disease develop. Among the earliest features of HD are circadian rhythm and sleep disturbances. These anomalies present many years prior to formal clinical diagnosis of HD and, while it has been postulated that these disturbances arise as a …

A Profile Of Game Style, Physical, Technical And Tactical Skills, And The Pathways That Underpin Expertise In Australian Youth Soccer Players, Bradley Scott Keller

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The attainment of expertise has been the focus of research in many domains including music, chess and sport. This research has progressed with many theories detailing the best way to develop expertise and nurture talent in sport. Soccer is a multifaceted sport which requires a number of physical, technical and tactical skills to be successful, making it difficult to achieve expertise. Although Australia’s performance on the international stage is improving, there is a lack of evidence to inform the most effective development pathways to support the next wave of talented youth soccer players. Therefore, the aim of the thesis was …

The Delivery Of Primary Health Care In Remote Australian Communities: A Grounded Theory Study Of The Perspective Of Nurses, Kylie Mccullough

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Around 85% of Australia’s landmass is remote and sparsely populated. Across these vast areas of desert, wilderness and tropical islands, nurses provide the majority of health care services. The residents of Australia’s remote communities have poorer health status than their metropolitan counterparts. The proportion of Indigenous people is high and health and social disadvantage is widespread. The characteristics of each remote community are unique and often reflect challenges associated with distance to tertiary health services and limited health resources. As a result, nursing practice within this context is very different to other nursing contexts. Despite recognition of Primary Health Care …

Contributors Of Singaporean Youths' Wellbeing: Life Goals, Family-Community-Nation Capitals, Opportunity And Social Mobility, Kong Weng Ho

Research Collection School Of Economics

Life goals induce one’s current investment and set one’s expectations of future outcomes, affecting one’s current state of subjective wellbeing. Using National Youth Survey (NYS) 2016, which has a representative sample of Singaporean youths, we find that non-zero-sum life goals such as family-oriented life goals and altruism-oriented life goals enhance happiness and life satisfaction of Singaporean youths while career-oriented life goals, zero-sum in nature, reduce subjective wellbeing. Apart from personal motivations or life aspirations, perceived social mobility (in terms of career opportunity and meritocracy) matters positively in the subjective wellbeing of both youths in school and in the workforce. Family …

Human And Nonhuman Animals: Equals In Uniqueness, Uta Maria Juergens

Animal Sentience

Chapman & Huffman attack the idea that humans are unique and therefore superior to nonhuman beings. They call on humankind to use their “intellect to change [their] actions.” I am in full accord with their line of thought, which differentiates uniqueness from superiority and enjoins humans to take responsible action. I suggest, however, that humans are unique with regard to cognitive fluidity. The same conclusions can be reached via another argument based on human uniqueness.

Good News: Humans Are Neither Distinct Nor Superior, Anne Benvenuti

Animal Sentience

Chapman & Huffman suggest that to correct our thinking about the supposed superiority of humans over other animals, we must train our reasoned investigation upon ourselves. Their thesis may usefully be viewed from within the general findings of the cognitive revolution in science, particularly findings that speak to the limits of rationality in everyday thought of humans. That we have failed — throughout a long history of scientific and philosophical thought — to ask fundamental questions about animal cognition and emotion is rooted in the fact that much of our thinking, feeling, and behaving is beyond our own immediate grasp. …

Can They Suffer?, Todd K. Shackelford

Animal Sentience

We should treat sentient nonhuman animals as worthy of moral consideration, not because we share an evolutionary history with them, but because they can suffer. As Chapman & Huffman (2018) argue, humans are not uniquely disconnected from other species. We should minimize the suffering we inflict on sentient beings — whether human or nonhuman — not because they, too, are tool-makers or have sophisticated communication systems, but because they, too, can suffer, and suffering is bad.

Human Superiority?, Bernard Rollin

Animal Sentience

Like Charles Darwin and George Romanes, I am quite willing to use anecdotal information as a source of knowledge about animal behavior. There are many more people observing nonhuman animals than there are people conducting controlled experiments, and we can thereby learn that behaviors we think are unique to humans are shared by other animals. From a strictly biological point of view, it makes no sense to speak of “human superiority.” One species of animal can be superior to another only in terms of survival and niche occupation. As moral concern for animals increases across the world, claims of human …

Using Anthropocentrism To The Benefit Of Other Species, Vanessa Wilson

Animal Sentience

Chapman & Huffman (2018) argue that we should not consider humans as unique or superior to other animals when we have the chance to explore the diversity of the traits of other species. This is a valid and progressive point in our approach to research, but I suggest that an anthropocentric approach can have animal welfare benefits when it helps us perceive other species – especially distantly related ones such as crustaceans – in a human light.

Why Humans Are Different, Tara Fox Hall

Animal Sentience

A central human problem is our inference from the fact that we are the world’s most intelligent species to the alleged fact that we are superior. This inference is not mandatory. Successfully combating this inference may require the threat of a large-scale catastrophe to our species.

Individuals In The Wild, Bob Fischer

Animal Sentience

If many wild animals have net negative lives, then we have to consider how likely it is that the good for animals, considered as individuals, aligns with the good for species, or the climate, or the preservation of wild spaces.

How To Foster Respect For Animals? Superiority, Dissimilarity, And Prejudice, Matteo Colombo

Animal Sentience

Chapman & Huffman (C & H) might be taken to argue as follows: Humans may treat animals however they want only if humans are superior to animals. But humans are not superior to animals. Therefore, humans may not treat animals however they want. Whatever its merit, this is not C & H’s actual argument. Their point, instead, is that humans often mistreat animals because they tend to perceive them as inferior. A remedy for animal mistreatment would then be acknowledging the deep similarities between us and animals. But is C & H’s suggested remedy likely to be effective to foster …

Insulting Words: "They Are Animals!", Carolyn A. Ristau

Animal Sentience

As Chapman & Huffman state, creating divisive human categories has rationalized atrocities committed against the “other.” Labeling neighboring warring villagers as “animals” is considered a despicable insult. Yet contemporary scientific views of many animals grant them thinking and conscious faculties, and the capacity for impressive achievements, many unattainable by humans. Robots, too, can accomplish many similar feats. But the essential reason we must protect animals is not because of their admirable abilities, but their capacity for consciousness, for suffering. Robots are not conscious. Participants in the human-animal debate should not complain about changing criteria for determining human uniqueness. New and …

Human-Like Behavior And Cognition: Not A Good Starting Point, Magnus Helgheim Blystad

Animal Sentience

Chapman & Huffman make use of observations and studies that show how humans may not be as unique in our behaviour and cognition as previously thought. I wholeheartedly agree that our uniqueness might be small and that if it exists, it should not give our species any right to act cruelly towards other animals. However, this kind of logic can be problematic. I present a few of the issues in this commentary.

Two Fallacies In Comparisons Between Humans And Non-Humans, Don Ross

Animal Sentience

The hypothesis that humans are superior to non-humans by virtue of higher cognitive powers is often supported by two recurrent fallacies: (1) that any competence shown by humans but not by our closest living relatives (apes) must be unique to humans; and (2) that grades of intelligence can be inferred from behavior without regard to motivational structures.

Is Superiority A Necessary Aspect Of Cruelty?, William H. Edmondson

Animal Sentience

Chapman & Huffman argue that humans inflict cruelty without apparent concern because of their categorization of the victims as inferior. The supposed inferiority of non-human animals can be argued against on the basis of documentation and analysis of behaviour. Humans continue to inflict cruelty on their own and other species. It is not obvious that a sense of superiority is a necessary aspect of cruel behaviour. Nor is it obvious that further enlightenment regarding the cognitive status of non-humans will diminish cruelty.

Web-Delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy For Distressed Cancer Patients: Randomized Controlled Trial, Suzanne K. Chambers, Lee M. Ritterband, Frances Thorndike, Lisa Nielsen, Joanne F. Aitken, Samantha Clutton, Paul A. Scuffham, Philippa Youl, Bronwyn Morris, Peter D. Baade, Jeff Dunn

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background: Web-based interventions present a potentially cost-effective approach to supporting self-management for cancer patients; however, further evidence for acceptability and effectiveness is needed.

Objective: The goal of our research was to assess the effectiveness of an individualized Web-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention on improving psychological and quality of life outcomes in cancer patients with elevated psychological distress.

Methods: A total of 163 distressed cancer patients (111 female, 68.1%) were recruited through the Queensland Cancer Registry and the Cancer Council Queensland Cancer Helpline and randomly assigned to either a Web-based tailored CBT intervention (CancerCope) (79/163) or a static …

Academic Reading Format Preferences And Behaviors Among University Students Worldwide: A Comparative Survey Analysis, Diane Mizrachi, Alicia M. Salaz, Sereap Kurbanoglu, Joumana Boustany, Afris Research Group

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This study reports the descriptive and inferential statistical findings of a survey of academic reading format preferences and behaviors of 10,293 tertiary students worldwide. The study hypothesized that country-based differences in schooling systems, socioeconomic development, culture or other factors might have an influence on preferred formats, print or electronic, for academic reading, as well as the learning engagement behaviors of students. The main findings are that country of origin has little to no relationship with or effect on reading format preferences of university students, and that the broad majority of students worldwide prefer to read academic course materials in print. …

On Legitimacy In Impact Assessment: An Epistemologically-Based Conceptualisation, Alan Bond, Jenny Pope, Francois Retief, Angus Morrison-Saunders

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Impact assessment (IA) is carried out as an ex ante process to inform decision-making. It includes requirements for engagement with stakeholders (including the public) regarding actions proposed by a proponent. A key issue with the various stakeholders involved is the perceived legitimacy of the IA, which can have implications both for the reputation of the proponent, and the likelihood of conflict over the decision. But the understanding of legitimacy in the IA literature has changed over time in line with an ontological shift from positivism (that scientifically generated information leads to better informed decisions) to the post-positivist acknowledgement of the …

Beyond Factor Analysis: Multidimensionality And The Parkinson’S Disease Sleep Scale-Revised, Maria E. Pushpanathan, Andrea M. Loftus, Natalie Gasson, Meghan G. Thomas, Caitlin F. Timms, Michelle Olaithe, Romola S. Bucks

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Many studies have sought to describe the relationship between sleep disturbance and cognition in Parkinson’s disease (PD). The Parkinson’s Disease Sleep Scale (PDSS) and its variants (the Parkinson’s disease Sleep Scale-Revised; PDSS-R, and the Parkinson’s Disease Sleep Scale-2; PDSS-2) quantify a range of symptoms impacting sleep in only 15 items. However, data from these scales may be problematic as included items have considerable conceptual breadth, and there may be overlap in the constructs assessed. Multidimensional measurement models, accounting for the tendency for items to measure multiple constructs, may be useful more accurately to model variance than traditional confirmatory factor analysis. …