Digital Commons Network^™

Appraisal Of Free Online Symptom Checkers And Applications For Self-Diagnosis And Triage: An Australian Evaluation, Michella Gaye Hill

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The internet has impacted society and changed the way companies and individuals operate on a daily basis. Seeking information online via computer or mobile device is common practice. The phrase ‘Google it’ is now part of modern vernacular and is a resource increasingly utilised by young and old alike. Around 80% of Australian’s search health-related information online as it is convenient, cheap, and available 24/7. Symptom checkers are one tool used by consumers to investigate their health issues. Symptom checkers are automated online programs which use computerised algorithms, asking a series of questions to help determine a potential diagnosis and/or …

Maximising Board Governance Effectiveness In Small And Medium-Sized Australian Independent Schools, Matthew Bambach

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

My experience of working with boards of independent schools has led me to conclude that boards often struggle to know how they might make their governance more effective. Very little has been written and few empirical studies have investigated governance of independent school boards in Australia, despite the considerable responsibility and power entrusted to them. This study asks how well such boards are governing and what they could do to engender fully effective governance.

Currently, there are no standards or instruments for assessing the effectiveness of board governance. This study identified seven governance effectiveness factors (GEFs) from the literature on …

Receiving By Giving: The Impacts Of Immersive Service-Learning For Primary School-Age Students, Kimberley Luinstra

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Immersive service-learning (ISL) tours provide opportunities for students to deepen their academic and social learning as they provide services to others in an environment different to their home. Research on the effects of ISL tours has been conducted with secondary, tertiary, and graduate school level students, but little research exists on the effects for primary school-age students. This may be in part because of the scarcity of ISL programs available for primary school-age students.

This case study research explores the impacts of an ISL service-learning experience on its primary school-age participants. The community of the metropolitan suburban school at the …

Primary School Teachers’ Experience Of Mathematics Education: A Phenomenological Study, Sarah Jane Tamburri

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Researchers and policymakers agree that all children can learn mathematics, and research has shown that teaching practices have a significant impact on student learning and achievement. Therefore, it is important that teachers are supported in their development as professionals and mathematics educators. This research gives a voice to a small number of primary school mathematics teachers, providing insight into their experience of mathematics education, from their perspective. In-depth interviews form the basis of data collection and these have been analysed through a transcendental phenomenological approach. The insights gained into teachers’ experiences and perspectives provide a deeper understanding of their role …

Towards A Declamatory Performance In Schubert Lieder, Olivia Claire Sanders Robinson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study reconsiders declamation in Schubert lieder performance in light of emerging historical evidence. Johann Michael Vogl’s reputedly declamatory approach has arguably been captured in surviving Diabelli editions that document his rhetorically motivated alterations and ornamentations. Similarly, Gustav Anton von Seckendorff has detailed song-like spoken declamation that manipulates pitch, rhythm and accentuation. Recordings of five modern German speakers were transcribed, analysed and used to model effective declamation in the recitation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s poems ‘Erster Verlust’ and ‘Geistes Gruß.’ PRAAT speech analysis software was used to analyse the recordings. The participants’ use of stress, emphasis and rubato was …

The Effects Of Environmental Temperature On High-Intensity Interval Training, Jason R. Boynton

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Endurance athletes typically spend the large majority of training (> 70%) at low intensities (i.e. below lactate threshold) coupled with short and intermittent bouts of high-intensity exercise or interval training (HIIT). Despite HIIT being a relatively small part of training in terms of duration, it has a substantial effect on the adaptations to endurance training. While it is well-established endurance exercise performance is affected in both hot and cold environmental conditions, the effect ambient temperature (TA; frequently referred to as environmental temperature) has on HIIT as performed by an endurance athlete population is not well understood. Therefore, the overall purpose …

An Investigation Into The Spatial Distribution, Habitat Selection And Resource Usage Of The Red Fox (Vulpes Vulpes) Inhabiting Urban Reserves Within Perth, Western Australia, Michael Thomas Main

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

I attempted to track a population of urban foxes in Kings Park, but due to collar failure, only one collar was retrieved. The GPS telemetry data from this fox produced home range estimates for minimum convex polygon (MCP) and kernel density (KD) of 0.302 km² and 0.331 km², respectively. The fox was predominantly active at night, with a ten-fold increase in movement during nocturnal periods when compared to daytime movements. Roads and man-made tracks were important for facilitating movement of the fox through its home range, with almost 97% of location fixes recorded within 100m of these features. The fox …

Educational And Psychosocial Development Of Adolescents In Specialist Sport Programs In Low Ses Areas Of Perth, Western Australia, Eibhlish Máire Bridget O'Hara

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Adolescents from low socio–economic (SES) backgrounds are more vulnerable, experience more physical and mental health problems, and often do not have as many positive educational outcomes as adolescents from higher SES backgrounds (Totten, 2007). Most research examining youth recreational activities, such as sport programs, demonstrate the positive influence they can have, especially for adolescents living in low SES neighbourhoods (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2002). However, adolescents living in low SES neighbourhoods often have limited access to such programs (Leventhal, Dupéré, Brooks-Gunn, 2009). As such, it is important to find alternate ways for adolescents living in low SES …

Application Of Advanced Algorithms And Statistical Techniques For Weed-Plant Discrimination, Saman Akbar Zadeh

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Precision agriculture requires automated systems for weed detection as weeds compete with the crop for water, nutrients, and light. The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of machine learning methods to classify weeds/crops in agriculture. Statistical methods, support vector machines, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are introduced, investigated and optimized as classifiers to provide high accuracy at high vehicular speed for weed detection.

Initially, Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithms are developed for weed-crop discrimination and their accuracies are compared with a conventional data-aggregation method based on the evaluation of discrete Normalised Difference Vegetation Indices (NDVIs) at two different …

Investigating Optimum Wavelength(S) For Growth Of Lactuca Sativa, L. Using Tunable Led Sources And Developing Thin-Film Filters For Glass Greenhouses, Jacqualine Anne Thomas

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

With the increase in world population, the continued advances in modern greenhouse agriculture and plant growth practices are expected to help overcome the global problem of future food shortages. This research investigates a way to assist in stemming the problem of food shortage by using optimised light irradiation (within the constraints of the experiment) on a sample plant species of lettuce (Lactuca sativa, L.). Whilst lettuce is often grown in hydroponic systems, the current research is conducted in stand-alone pots with hand watering, due to the requirements of health and safety and available resources.

The experiments were designed …

Higher Education Access And Participation For Persons With Disability In Ghanaian Public Universities, Mary Afi Mensah

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Globally, there is a growing interest in widening access and supporting participation for persons with disability in higher education. This situation is stimulated in part by major international treaties and protocols. Ghana has demonstrated its commitment to this global trend to formulate and implement national legislation on inclusive education across the country’s educational system. However, in Ghana, access to and participation in the higher education system by persons with disability remains poor despite national legislation and policies to address this issue. It appears that national policies have not fully translated into institutional policies and provisions dedicated to supporting persons with …

Exercise And Nutrition Induced Weight Loss For Prostate Cancer Patients, Rebekah Louise Wilson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis encompasses six main chapters - two reviews and four experimental chapters, in addition to a general introduction and discussion.

Review 1 (Chapter 2) is a discussion of the negative impact of obesity on prostate cancer prognosis and common prostate cancer treatments.

Review 2 (Chapter 3) is an evaluation of the current literature examining prostate cancer patients receiving androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and how exercise and nutrition interventions can be used to induce fat loss, while preserving or improving lean mass.

Study 1 (Chapter 4) is an examination of the efficacy of a weight loss program in altering body …

Nutrition, Body Composition And Physical Activity In Malignant Pleural Disease: Associations With Patient Outcomes And Response To An Exercise Intervention, Emily Jeffery

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Background: Patients with malignant pleural disease (MPD) have advanced cancer and high symptom burden. Goals of patient care are to optimise health-related quality-of-life (HR-QoL) and participation in daily physical activities. Supportive care interventions such as nutrition and exercise could offer benefit to patients. However, there is a lack of information on the prevalence of low muscle mass (i.e., pre-sarcopenia), malnutrition, inactivity and poor physical functioning in patients with MPD. Additionally, little is known about the factors associated with development of pre-sarcopenia and malnutrition or their associations with patient outcomes.

Purpose: The objectives were to: 1) characterise physical activity levels and …

The Experiences Of Western Australian Muslims Within The Current Political And Social Environment, John Lehane

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this research was to examine the experiences of Western Australian (WA) Muslims, within the context of the current Australian political and social climate, with a key focus on how political and social factors, and the vast introduction of Australian antiterrorism legislation, may impact them. Also explored in this inquiry, was how mainstream media and their regular portrayal of Islamic-inspired terrorist attacks, which has at times connected all Muslims to these atrocities, is creating a social division within the Australian community which is difficult to overcome.

A generic qualitative methodology was utilised to best capture the lived experiences …

Improving Processes For Implementing Evidence-Based Practice In Midwifery: Development Of An Etool(Kit) For Midwives, Annemarie June De Leo

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is well-established as the gold standard for service delivery of quality healthcare around the world, yet there remains a significant gap between best available evidence and its everyday use in maternity services. The numerous benefits of EBP are therefore never realised and although a considerable body of knowledge has evolved on how to promote the uptake of new EBPs, little is known about midwives’ experience of implementing EBP or leading practice change projects in clinical areas.

The aim of this study was to work collaboratively with midwives towards the co-development of an evidence implementation resource, designed to …

Information And Communication Technology (Ict) And Its Impact On Students’ Learning In Public Sector Universities Of Peshawar, Sana Tabassum Sana, Amjad Reba Amjad, Jalal Ud Din Jalal

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study examined the impact of ICT on student-learning in public sector universities of Peshawar division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It sought out the relationship between ICT and student-learning particularly looking at the user- ability of ICT and their effects on students learning. The study was conducted through multistage sampling technique; data was collected through questionnaires, from a sample of 300 respondent students and 75 teachers out of a target population of 1400 students and 245 teachers. Majority of the students and teachers were of the view that using ICT tools have affected their learning. It was concluded from the findings that …

Indian Wheat Research Output In Two Decades: A Bibliometric Study Based On Scopus Data From 1996-2015, Anil Kumar Siwach

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the Indian wheat research output during 1996 to 2015 from a bibliometric point of view.

Methodology: The data for the study was extracted from Scopus database for the 20 years time period from 1996-2015 using the keywords identified through MeSH. A total of 8554 Indian papers on wheat research were selected and analyzed to study the year-wise output, most prolific authors, document types, top journals, top institutions, international collaborations, funding agencies, citation profile and top cited papers.

Findings: With 8.52% of the global research output on wheat, India …

Evaluating Perception Of Users Regarding Collection And Services: A Case Study Of Kashmir Government Polytechnic College (Kgpc), Sumaira Jan Dr., Asifa Ali

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The present study attempts to offer an insight about the user’s perception regarding library collection and service in Kashmir Government Polytechnic College (KGPC). The findings of the study reveal that preponderance (91.33%) prefer to use “Textbooks” as a source of information resource in the library while as usage of e-resources have been found low among them. It emerges that majority of users visit library on “Daily” basis to “Issue books” and read “Newspapers”. On the other hand, the finding reveals that majority of user’s visits library to avail “Internet Services” followed by “Lending Services”. Furthermore, it is observed from …

E-Resources: Perception And Utilisation By Ayurvedic Medical College Librarians Of North Karnataka, Rajita Devi, Dr Keshava

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

E-resources are increasingly important to all aspects of teaching and learning. This present study provides an overview of the perception of e-resources by the librarians of 23 Ayurvedic Medical Colleges of North Karnataka. A well-structured questionnaire was administered to the Librarians of 23 Ayurvedic Medical Colleges of North Karnataka to get required data. 23 questionnaires were distributed, out of which 23 questionnaires were returned with 100% response. This study investigates awareness regarding perception and use of e-resource in the library; their usage; satisfaction with the availability of e-resources & infrastructure facility provided in using e-resources; and need of training to …

A Vacant Approach For Ranking Of Open Access Journals Of India’S: A Scientific Evaluation, Shakil Ahmad, Abdurahiman Pattukuthu, Sameh Nour Mahfouz, Abu Waris, Isam Mohmmed Abdel-Magid Ahmed

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The aim of this research is to show the presence and effect of vacant approaches to open access journals of India’s scientific journal with a view published in 2018. The excellence of the scientific journal mainly formed bibliometric indicators; Journal Impact Factor (JIF), Eigen Factor Score (ES), SCImago Journal Rank Indicator (SJR), Cite Score rank and Google Index rank. A special vacant approach of open access journals of India was chosen from their community. JIFs and ESs were collected from the Journal citation report and the SJR and Cite Score from the Scopus database, Google index from google scholar Metrix. …

Awareness And Use Of Academic Social Networking Sites Among Library And Information Science Professionals In North Eastern Region In India, Stephen G, Pramanathan U

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

A variety of Academic Social Networking (ASN) Platforms, Including ResearchGate, Academia.edu and Google Scholar, have gained popularity over the past decades. A common capability of many of these academic social networking websites is to provide an online repository to which users can upload and share research papers. Now 10 years since the launch of the three main platforms which currently lead the market (Academia.edu, ResearchGate, and Mendeley), it is timely to review how and why ASNS are used. Recently Microsoft Academic also. These sites allow uploading academic articles, abstracts, and links to published articles; track demand for published articles, and …

Bibliometric Mapping Of Scholar Publishing In Physics: Exploratory Study, Anna Novotna, Jan Novotny, Kamil Matula

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The focus of this study is quite narrow, still we strove to keep our ways of exploring the data extensive to thoroughly examine them. We were not led by specific hypotheses but we tried to find dependencies and interesting points which could be examined further in bigger scope with more data.

We investigated preference of journals based on publications. We also explored publishing groups and their core journals. We also examined quantity of topics in which the scholars publish and their behavior in terms of their uploads of preprints to arXiv.org before the paper gets officially published.

There were some …

Cell Phone Use And Social Alienation Of Young Teenagers, Alireza Atarodi, Marzeyeh Rajabi, Ahmadreza Atarodi

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract:

Introduction: The aim of the study was to survey the degree of cell phone use with their dependence to it and the social alienation of young teenagers.

Methods: It was a review, a survey type and in terms of application it was an observatory research on correlation between cell phone usages with student alienation in 2020.

Results: The results of the research showed that there is a relationship between the degree of cell phone dependence with social alienation among users and mostly young teenagers.

Conclusion: Young teenagers use cell phone much and incorrectly in some ways …

Characteristic Assessment Of Advancement In Duties Of Librarians And Function Of Libraries In Data Science Era, Naimat Ullah Shah Mr., Salman Bin Naeem Dr.

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Data sciences usually involve data management, its utilization, distribution as well as its re-utilization. All these components need to be focused while targeting data science. Thus data puts a significant burden on research institutes because it is the authority that decides the responsible for the whole course of the procedure. It is of prime importance for data science librarians serving in data-centric age to know regarding LIS principles, theories, and other related skills that are mandatory for management and support of data science. This paper sums up the reviews of researchers regarding the data science era. Moreover, this paper includes …

Mentorship In Education: A Bibliometric Analysis Of 100 Top-Cited Articles, Marzoq Bataeineh Dr., Murtaza Ashiq, Ikram Ul Haq Mr, Shafiq Ur Rehman

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This is the first study of its kind to investigate the 100 most cited articles of mentoring in education that indexed in the world-leading database, i.e., Web of Science. The objectives are to find out publishing trends, authorship patterns, principal authors, highly productive countries, commonly mentioned features in the journals (title, rate, quartile, country, age and the effect of citations) and organization within 100 most cited articles of mentoring in education. Bibliometrics analysis was used to draw the inferences. This study cover 45 years from 1970 to 2014. The result shows that the 100 most cited mentorship articles received 5448 …

Webometric Analysis Of Centres Of Indian Statistical Institute In India, Mansi Gupta, Harpreet Singh

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Websites have become an essential media of communication for every institution as they efficiently disseminate the information to their users. This paper investigates the Web presence of ISI centres in India. The study analyses the number of webpages, various links such as Inlinks, Self-links and External links of websites by collecting information from the internet using various search engines (like Exalead, Google and Bing). Also, it analyses the Web Impact Factor and WISER rank for each website used in this study. It also presents the link-network diagram of ISI centres using SocSciBot 4 Software.

Research Excellence Of Iits In Business, Management And Accounting: A Bibliometric Study, Ranjita Mishra, Dola Babu Ramesh

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The present study assesses business research in Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs). The publications of IITs in business, Management and Accounting recorded in Scopus database dates back to 1963. The study analyzed top performing nine IITs and found 5000 publications during 1963 to 2019. Bibliometric analysis is implemented on data retrieved from Scopus database. The study identifies annual growth, prolific authors, authorship trend, leading journals and Bradford’s Law is tested on the collected data of Scattering in different sources

Information Literacy Among Students Of The University Of Ghana Business School And Ghana Institute Of Management And Public Administration Business School, Prosper Kwame Amegashie, Samuel Ankamah

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The acquisition of information literacy skills empowers students to understand the content, extend their research and assume greater control over their learning. The purpose of the study is to assess information literacy skills of levels 300 and 400 students of the University of Ghana Business School, Legon and Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration Business School, Achimota. From a population of 2,579 respondents (students), a sample size of 202 that is, 86 UGBS and 116 GIMPABS were selected for the study. The questionnaire was used to gathered and analysed data. The findings of this study show that students agreed …

Coronary Artery Disease Research In India: A Scientometric Assessment Of Publication During 1990-2019, Muneer Ahmad, Dr. M.Sadik Batcha

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The present study examined 4698 Indian Coronary Artery Disease research publications, as indexed in Web of Science database during 1990-2019, with a view to understand their growth rate, global share, citation impact, international collaborative papers, distribution of publications by broad subjects, productivity and citation profile of top organizations and authors, and preferred media of communication. The Indian publications registered an annual average growth rate of 11.47%, global share of 1.14%, international collaborative publications share of 38.89% and its citation impact averaged to 25.58 citations per paper. Among broad subjects, Cardiovascular System & Cardiology contributed the largest publications share of 19.14% …

Effect Of Gender On Lecturers’ Submission And Retrieval Of Research Output In Institutional Repositories In Private Universities In Southern Nigeria, Colette Onyebinama, Chinwe Veronica Anunobi Dr, Uzochukwu Anaelechi Onyebinama Assoc. Prof

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study was designed to determine the effect of gender on submission and retrieval of research output in IRs by lecturers in private universities in Southern Nigeria. A survey design was employed in the study. A list of lecturers in the two faculties of the two universities was obtained from which 150 lecturers were randomly selected. A self-designed questionnaire was used to collect data from the 150 lecturers out of which 100 were returned. Data were analyzed using frequency distribution, means, percentages, z-test and regression analysis. The study showed that submission of research output in IRs in private universities was …