Digital Commons Network^™

Reframing Museum Epistemology For The Information Age: A Discursive Design Approach To Revealing Complexity, Coral Manton

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

This practice-based research inquiry examines the impact of an epistemic shift, brought about by the dawning of the information age and advances in networked communication technologies, on physical knowledge institutions - focusing on museums. The research charts adapting knowledge schemas used in museum knowledge organisation and discusses the potential for a new knowledge schema, the network, to establish a new epistemology for museums that reflects contemporary hyperlinked and networked knowledge. The research investigates the potential for networked and shared virtual reality spaces to reveal new ‘knowledge monuments’ reflecting the epistemic values of the network society and the space of flows. …

Shanshuihua: ‘Mountain-Water-Painting’ For An Ecological Age, Lei Liu

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

This practice-led research project appraises the tradition of shanshuihua, or ‘mountain-water painting’, within broader traditions of Chinese ink painting, or shuimohua, and, through links with ancient Chinese philosophies, considers its continuing relevance to contemporary painting, and modern ecological themes, both in China and beyond. The research initially assesses historical connections between ink painting and the fundamental philosophies of Chinese history and culture, namely Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, and maps certain connections to the development of shanshuihua. Through a series of interviews with contemporary Chinese artists, the project investigates whether the influence of these philosophic traditions have a continuing significance to …

Assessing The Efficacy Of A Novel Galactooligosaccharide To Promote Fish Health And Robustness, Lucy May Sykes

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

Aquaculture has been steadily increasing global production; however, there remains a progressively greater demand for sustainable sources of protein, whilst the prevalence of disease represents a major constraint to industry growth. Feed additives are gaining traction as useful tools to help combat disease and promote health, and previous research has documented benefits to the mucosal surfaces and microbial communities within a range of teleost species. Three experimental in vivo feeding trials were undertaken using a range of in-depth analyses, such as growth performance, haematology, immunology, intestinal histology, intestinal gene expression and intestinal bacterial 16S rRNA sequence libraries. Studies were conducted …

Octopus Optics: A Cross-Disciplinary Investigation Of Human Visual Bias In Narrative With Corresponding Writing Experiments Using Animal Focalisation, Stephanie Jane Cussans Moran

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

What is it like to be a human? If an octopus wrote an anthropology based on human depictions of octopuses then how might that reconfigure this existential question? This thesis addresses the posthuman problem of visual bias in animal storytelling practices by experimentally adopting the perspective of another highly visual animal - the octopus - through fiction. It seeks to question, find the edges, and feel the limitations of human representations of other animals and asks what doing so might say about our own naturalcultural perceptions and interpretations. In attending particularly to opticality in Anglophone storytelling, the thesis investigates ways …

The Postnatural Animal In Contemporary Art, Paul Finnegan

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

The thesis uses art practice as a research method to propose novel characterisations of animal life. These characterisations aim to challenge an organicist image of non-human animals. The thesis considers animal bodies and behaviours as subject to aesthetic judgments that are underpinned by deeper ontological and epistemological commitments as to relations between nature and society, in which to be categorised as the former entails a series of privations in relation to the latter – the absence of freedom, subjectivity and creativity. Scholarly research on the history of the perception and conception of animal life within modernity, and subsequent challenges made …

A Practice-Led Inquiry Into Collaboration With Landscape Within The Expanded Field Of Photography, Laurie Reynolds

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

It is the intent, by working within the expanded field of photography, sculpture, video archiving and writing practice, to create a new theoretical model of landscape’s agency as co-author and collaborator. The inquiry is approached through a Deleuzian sense of crystallization; a process of forming concepts through a series of encounters with post-industrial landscapes. Through practice, these encounters are an attempt to understand the nature of collaborating with a non-human agency; explored not through historical, material, or evolutionary origins, but rather, through the conditions that afford the emergence of a collaborative practice. These encounters are transcribed and presented through the …

The Role Of Circadian Entrainment In Rice Blast Disease, Ciaran Griffin

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

A circadian clock is present in some capacity in almost all forms of life, and is useful for a wide array of traits, but crucially allows organisms to predict future conditions and adapt their behaviour to synchronise with, and thrive under, their dynamic environment. Accordingly, plant environmental stress responses are gated in a circadian manner, including that for pathogenic defence and immunity. Comparatively less work has been carried out on the plant pathogens, but there are increasing reports of pathogens capable of rhythmically altering their behaviour and virulence-related traits. Magnaporthe oryzae, the fungal pathogen responsible for the destruction of enough …

An Accumulation Of Care: Affect In The Role Of The Contemporary Curator, Sara-Jayne Parsons

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

This research portfolio investigates an affective approach to contemporary curatorial practice that is shaped by an accumulation of care. By retracing my working methods and noticing small shifts or interruptions, I reveal transformative, incremental changes in my work as a curator. I introduce curatorial practice where care is described as the physical and intellectual concern for objects in a museum, and consider traditional narratives ascribed to the role of a curator. I then propose an expanded understanding of care in curatorial practice that goes beyond stewardship to encompass engagement, empathy and allyship. Adopting a posthumanist methodological strategy which negotiates subjectivity …

Casting A Line To The Land: Narratologies Of Embodied Rituals And Connectivity To Place, Zoe Latham

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

This research argues for a re-conceptualisation and extension of place within architectural praxis that is reflective of broader discussions of meaning and environmental experience. This study examines the alignment between place and ritual theory as a way to better understand phenomenon that inform a greater connectivity between embodied and meaningful experiences with the environment. This will be explored through the act of fly fishing. Fly-fishing is relevant as the focus of the study owing in part to the author’s own experience as a fly angler. The relationship between the act of fly fishing, being part of nature and being in …

Performance Writing, Objects And Millennial Precarity: A Co-Authored Par Exploration Between Friends, Katheryn Owens

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

This practice-as-research project uses performance writing to understand, illustrate and work through aspects of millennial experience, with a specific interest in precarious housing and labour. For us, experiencing precarity means that fundamental aspects of what is required to experience what Lauren Berlant calls ‘a good life’ (including secure working contracts, renters’ rights, access to leisure time) are not being met. This leads to a feeling of ‘living on the edge’ (Ahmed, 2017: 238), which in turn prevents us from being able to imagine alternatives. This performance writing takes the form of scores, instructions, maps, walking, knitting, zines, and audio recordings. …

Towards The Validation Of Novel Cognitive And Physiological Indicators Of Affective State In Horses (Equus Caballus), Sarah Kappel

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

Assessing animal emotions reliably is crucial for making accurate decisions about animal welfare, but subjective affective (emotional) states are inaccessible for direct measurement. We know that negative affect modulates attention in humans and some animals. The overarching aim of this thesis is to investigate if the preferential attention allocation towards certain information (i.e. attention bias, AB) could be a potential proxy measure of affective valence in horses. First, I provide an overview of the theoretical background to attention and AB by reviewing the literature on AB in humans and animals (Chapter 2). I examine which methodological aspects need consideration when …

Does Connectivity With Nature Alter Consumer Behaviour? Linking Ocean Connectedness And Consumer Views On Single-Use Packaging, Sohvi Katariina Nuojua

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

Single-use packaging items constitute a large proportion of the plastic litter found in the marine environment. Consumer behaviour is a key contributor to the accumulation of this pollution in the environment. This thesis outlines correlational and experimental research on consumer responses to environmentally relevant qualities of single-use packaging. Furthermore, it considers a novel concept of ocean connectedness as a psychological moderator of consumer response. Studies 1 and 2 investigated consumer responses to recyclability of packaging as well as its raw material (plastic, glass, carton and aluminium) in undergraduate students and in a broader UK public sample. Ocean connectedness was assessed …

Pleistocene Depositional Environments On The Eastern Ross Sea Continental Slope, Antarctica, Maxine Valentina King

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

In 2018, International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 374 drilled a 208.28 m-thick sequence of Plio-Pleistocene sediments on the Eastern Ross Sea continental slope, Antarctica (Hole U1525A). In this thesis, sediments from Hole U1525A are used to reconstruct the depositional environment on the slope since 2.4 Ma, focusing on characterising instances of West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) extension to the continental margin. Late Pleistocene Ross Sea Fan deposits in Hole U1525A are also studied to identify provenance changes that may link to changing ice stream dynamics. Core images, grain size, X-ray fluorescence and physical properties datasets were used from the upper …

The Importance Of Multimodal Play And Storytelling In Medtech For Children: A Case Study Of Co-Designing A Mixed Realities Play Kit To Prepare 4 To 10-Year-Olds For An Mri Scan, D Yamada-Rice, S Love, J Thompson, S Thompson, H Mcquillian

School of Art, Design and Architecture

This article examines the research and development of a mixed realities play-kit to prepare children for an MRI scan to be undertaken without the need for a General Anaesthetic. The kit uses three different types of play; augmented, virtual reality and physical to help children become familiar with the look of an MRI scanner, the noises it makes, the role of the radiographer, what to expect when they go to hospital and to practise staying still. We reflect on the initial multimodal research methods that were used to bring children into the first stages of the design and development process. …

Unlocking Social Innovation In Xr For Healthcare In Coastal Communities, Alejandro Veliz Reyes, Marius N. Varga, Hannah Bradwell, Rory Baxter

School of Art, Design and Architecture

This position paper reconsiders the 'social' aspect of XR systems for healthcare, often developed following a 'problem-solution' approach that neglects sociocultural factors affecting their codesign and successful adoption. Focusing on coastal and rural communities, we review and present key principles to consider when codesigning XR systems with marginalised groups. Our work stems from two projects funded by UK Research & Innovation that aim to promote healthy ageing in coastal communities.

End-Of-Life Care In The Last Three Months Before Death In Older Patients With Cancer In Belgium: A Large Retrospective Cohort Study Using Data Linkage, Victoria Depoorter, Katrijn Vanschoenbeek, Lore Decoster, Geert Silversmit, Philip R. Debruyne, Inge De Groof, Dominique Bron, Frank Cornélis, Sylvie Luce, Christian Focan, Vincent Verschaeve, Gwenaëlle Debugne, Christine Langenaeken, Heidi Van Den Bulck, Jean Charles Goeminne, Wesley Teurfs, Guy Jerusalem, Dirk Schrijvers, Bénédicte Petit, Marika Rasschaert, Jean Philippe Praet, Katherine Vandenborre, Harlinde De Schutter, Koen Milisen, Johan Flamaing, Cindy Kenis, Freija Verdoodt, Hans Wildiers

School of Nursing and Midwifery

This study aims to describe end-of-life (EOL) care in older patients with cancer and investigate the association between geriatric assessment (GA) results and specialized palliative care (SPC) use. Older patients with a new cancer diagnosis (2009–2015) originally included in a previous multicentric study were selected if they died before the end of follow-up (2019). At the time of cancer diagnosis, patients underwent geriatric screening with Geriatric 8 (G8) followed by GA in case of a G8 score ≤14/17. These data were linked to the cancer registry and healthcare reimbursement data for follow-up. EOL care was assessed in the last three …

Meme Sentiment Analysis Enhanced With Multimodal Spatial Encoding And Face Embedding, Muzhaffar Hazman, Susan Mckeever, Josephine Griffith

Conference papers

Internet memes are characterised by the interspersing of text amongst visual elements. State-of-the-art multimodal meme classifiers do not account for the relative positions of these elements across the two modalities, despite the latent meaning associated with where text and visual elements are placed. Against two meme sentiment classification datasets, we systematically show performance gains from incorporating the spatial position of visual objects, faces, and text clusters extracted from memes. In addition, we also present facial embedding as an impactful enhancement to image representation in a multimodal meme classifier. Finally, we show that incorporating this spatial information allows our fully automated …

A Tutoring Framework To Support Computer Science Programmes In Higher Education, Emer Thornbury, Frances Sheridan, Pramod Pathak, Cristina Hava Muntean, Paul Stynes

Conference papers

Computing Support is the provision of academic supports such as individual tutoring and support classes to students studying computing at third level. Students can struggle with computing as it requires practice involving trial and error. This work proposes a research informed tutoring framework to support computer science students at third level. The tutoring framework combines three pillars; staff and training, pedagogies and activities. Support is put in place to help students develop technical and programming skills. Essential tutoring is provided for those who might otherwise drop out of college. The framework was applied to first and second-year undergraduate programmes and …

Queer In Ai: A Case Study In Community-Led Participatory Ai, Anaelia Ovalle, Arjun Subramonian, Ashwiin Singh, Claas Voelcker, Danica Sutherland, Davide Locatelli, Eva Breznik, Felip Klubicka, Hang Yuan, Hetvi J, Huan Zhang, Jaidev Shriram, Kruno Lehman, Luca Soldaini, Maarten Sap, Marc Peter Deisenroth, Maria Leonor Pacheco, Maria Ryskina, Martin Mundt, Melind Agarwal, Nyx Mclean, Pan Xu, A. Pranav, Raj Korpan, Ruchira Ray, Sarah Mathew, Sarthak Arora, S.T. John, Tanvi Anand, Vishakha Agrawal, William Agnew, Yanan Long, Zijie J. Wang, Zeerak Talat, Avijit Ghosh, Nathaniel Dennler, Michael Noseworthy, Sharvani Jha, Emi Baylor, Aditya Joshi, Natalia Y. Bilenko, Andrew Mcnamara, Raphael Gontijo-Lopes, Alex Markham, Evyn Dong, Jackie Kay, Manu Saraswat, Nikhil Vytla, Luke Stark

Conference papers

Queerness and queer people face an uncertain future in the face of ever more widely deployed and invasive artificial intelligence (AI). These technologies have caused numerous harms to queer people, including privacy violations, censoring and downranking queer content, exposing queer people and spaces to harassment by making them hypervisible, deadnaming and outing queer people. More broadly, they have violated core tenets of queerness by classifying and controlling queer identities. In response to this, the queer community in AI has organized Queer in AI, a global, decentralized, volunteer-run grassroots organization that employs intersectional and community-led participatory design to build an inclusive …

Detection Of Pause In A Pedestrian’S Movement On A Linear Walkway Using Bluetooth Low Energy Received Signal Strength Indicator, Mayank Parmar, Paula Kelly, Damon Berry

Conference papers

In recent years, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) has amassed significant attention in several applications. Its potential, however, remains largely unexplored for understanding pedestrian behaviour. This study focuses on investigating the potential of BLE in identifying pedestrian activity in an outdoor linear walkway. We specifically examine the likelihood of detecting pauses in the movement of pedestrians on a linear walkway using the strength of the signals obtained from a BLE device carried by the pedestrian. To accomplish this, a volunteer pedestrian intentionally pauses at selected points on the chosen walkway for varying predetermined intervals. The obtained data was conditioned using a …

Capturing The Behaviour Of Volunteer Pedestrians In A Newly-Developed University Campus Using A Distributed Array Of Bluetooth Low Energy Devices, Ahlam Al Anbouri, Mayank Parmar, David Powell, Paula Kelly, Niall Holmes Dr., Damon Berry, Lorraine D'Arcy

Conference papers

Contemporary public infrastructure projects emphasise sustainable options that integrate pedestrian routes, leisure facilities and convenient access to public transport systems. It is important to understand the effectiveness of these contemporary designs. In the age of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), there is a need to develop technologybased solutions that collect information about the behaviour of pedestrians in public spaces as they commute and engage in leisure pursuits while simultaneously preserving the privacy of these citizens. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), has privacypreserving features that make it worth considering as part of a technology solution for studies of this type. This …

Summary Of Alcohol And Drug Treatment For Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Peoples, Australian Indigenous Healthinfonet

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This summary is based on the Review of alcohol and drug treatment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It provides an overview of the available evidence for treatment approaches to help a person reduce or stop substance use. These are treatments for when a person has evidence of either hazardous use or problem alcohol and other drug (AOD) use (see Box 1 for terms used). Some approaches to address substance use are not included in this summary (e.g. for tobacco cessation or volatile substance use). This summary presents information on:

• the available research and other evidence that underpins …

Responsive, Adaptive, And Future-Centred Leadership In Response To Crisis: Findings From Australia, Fiji, And New Zealand, Michelle Striepe, Pauline Thompson, Sylvia Robertson, Mohini Devi, David Gurr, Fiona Longmuir, Adam Taylor, Christine Cunningham

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruption to education and highlighted the importance of effective leadership during times of crisis. This paper considers the impact of the pandemic on school leaders in Australia, Fiji, and New Zealand. A secondary analysis of data from five interpretivist, qualitative studies was conducted. The aim of the study was to investigate the similarities and differences between the leaders’ experiences across school settings, states/provinces, and countries. Our findings place renewed importance on understanding the role of schools within the community and the vital role school leaders play in helping schools respond to volatile and dynamic …

A New Augmented Reality System For Calculating Social Distancing Between Children At School, Omar Alshaweesh, Mohammad Wedyan, Moutaz Alazab, Bilal Abu-Salih, Adel Al-Jumaily

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Social distancing is one of the most important ways to prevent many diseases, especially the respiratory system, where the latest internationally spread is coronavirus disease, and it will not be the last. The spreading of this pandemic has become a major threat to human life, especially to the elderly and people suffering from chronic diseases. During the Corona pandemic, medical authorities were keen to control the spread through social distancing and monitoring it in markets, universities, and schools. This monitoring was mostly used to estimate the distance with the naked eye and interfere with estimating the distance on the observer …

A Systematic Review Of Literature On Occupational Health And Safety Interventions For Older Workers, Tim Bentley, Leigh-Ann Onnis, Alexis Vassiley, Ben Farr-Wharton, Carlo Caponecchia, Catherine Andrew, Sharron O’Neill, Abilio De Almeida Neto, Vanessa Huron, Nicola Green

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

As the global population ages there is an imperative to enhance labour participation of older workers in ways that support good physical and psychological health. However, there is limited guidance for organisations on how to do this effectively. This systematic review examined literature identified through four databases and a targeted web-search, yielding 39 PRISMA records (32 scholarly, seven grey literature) reporting workplace interventions aimed at improving the injury outcomes of older workers. The review revealed that organisational and composite interventions may be most effective, although an absence of robust research in this area and a scarcity of empirical evidence-based interventions …

Educational Leaders’ Perceptions Of Stem Education Revealed By Their Drawings And Texts, Vesife Hatisaru, Garry Falloon, Andrew Seen, Sharon Fraser, Markus Powling, Kim Beswick

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This study explored school principals' and teacher educators' perceptions of STEM education based on how they described STEM as a discipline, their understanding of the nature of teaching and learning of STEM, and the capabilities of a STEM-educated person. Data were generated through the Draw a STEM Learning Environment (D-STEM) instrument comprising drawn and written descriptions where participants drew a picture of a STEM learning environment and completed five prompt statements about what STEM is and how an individual develops personal STEM capability. The Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) specialization codes were used for data analysis (198 individual response items in …

Overview Of Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Health Status 2022, Australian Indigenous Healthinfonet

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The main purpose of the Overview of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health status (Overview) is to provide a comprehensive summary of the most recent indicators of the health and current health status of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The Overview has been prepared by HealthInfoNet staff as part of our contribution to supporting those who work in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector. The Overview is a key indicator of the HealthInfoNet’s commitment to authentic and engaged knowledge development and exchange. The initial sections of this Overview provide information about the context of Aboriginal and …

Australian Highlevel Public Policy Preparedness For Population-Based Triage During The Pandemic, Zachary Horn, Lily Gapp Duckett, Kaitlin Webber

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The COVID-19 pandemic brought attention to scarce clinical resource allocation via secondary population-based triage (S-PBT) throughout the international healthcare community. Experiences overseas highlighted the importance of coordinated and consistent approaches to allocating resources when facing overwhelming demand, particularly for critical care. Noting the importance of consistency and the system of devolved governance deployed in Australia, this study aimed to identify and analyse sources of high-level policy that affect Australia’s health system preparedness for the operationalisation of S-PBT. Of the 39 documents reviewed, 17 contained potential references to S-PBT. There was a lack of clear recommendations and guidance to inform S-PBT …

Development Of A Tool To Identify Barriers And Enablers To Practice Innovation In Midwifery: A Participatory Action Research Study, Sara D. Davis, Sara Bayes, Sadie Geraghty

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Introduction: Transferring research evidence into midwifery practice is fraught with challenges and obstacles. Implementation tools can streamline the process and are most effective when they are discipline-specific; however, there are currently no midwifery specific implementation tools. The aim of this study was to develop a midwifery specific tool to identify barriers and enablers to evidence-informed practice change within the clinical setting. Methods: Participatory action research methodology was employed to ensure potential end-users contributed to content and format of the tool. Purposeful sampling ensured participants were selected from a range of midwifery practice settings in Western Australia and the United Kingdom. …

Discovery Of A Missense Mutation (Q222k) Of The Apoe Gene From The Australian Imaging, Biomarker And Lifestyle Study, Blaine R. Roberts, Scott B. Laffoon, Anne M. Roberts, Tenielle Porter, Chris Fowler, Colin L. Masters, Edward A. Dratz, Simon M. Laws

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

After age, polymorphisms of the Apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene are the biggest risk factor for the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). During our investigation to discovery biomarkers in plasma, using 2D gel electrophoresis, we found an individual with and unusual apoE isoelectric point compared to APOE ϵ2, ϵ3, and ϵ4 carriers. Whole exome sequencing of APOE from the donor confirmed a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in exon 4, translating to a rare Q222K missense mutation. The apoE ϵ4 (Q222K) mutation did not form dimers or complexes observed for apoE ϵ2 ϵ3 proteins.