Digital Commons Network^™

Attitudes And Perceptions Towards Privacy And Surveillance In Australia, Aleatha J. Shanley

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Understanding attitudes towards privacy and surveillance technologies used to enhance security objectives is a complex, but crucial aspect for policy makers to consider. Historically, terrorism-related incidents justified the uptake of surveillance practices. More recently however, biosecurity concerns have motivated nation-states to adopt more intrusive surveillance measures. There is a growing body of literature that supports the public’s desire to maintain privacy despite fears of biological or physical threats.

This research set out to explore attitudes towards privacy and surveillance in an Australian context. Throughout the course of this endeavour, the COVID-19 pandemic emerged bringing with it a variety of track …

Understanding Mental Wellbeing Of Family Day Care Educators In Australia: A Mixed Methods Study, Theresa Rayfield

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Family Day Care (FDC) is an essential service within the Australian early childhood education and care sector. FDC educators support Australian families who require convenience, flexibility, and versatility in the education and care of their children. FDC educators’ mental wellbeing (MWB) is vital to ensure optimal education and care is provided, however this is often overlooked by educators. This research aimed to gauge Australian FDC educators’ MWB, identify factors positively or negatively affecting MWB and strategies employed to maintain and support MWB.

Primarily, a cross-sectional quantitative questionnaire measuring MWB and ten predictor variables determining relationship with food, food insecurity, alcohol …

Novel Methods For Assessing Pulmonary And Cardio-Vascular Limitations To Aerobic Performance In Older And Younger Populations, Toni Haddad

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Around the world, life expectancy is increasing, the ageing population is growing, and maintaining quality of life at an older age currently represents a major global challenge. While ‘successful ageing’ relies on a variety of factors, aerobic performance and exercise capacity are key determinants and attenuating their decline is of the utmost importance. The decrease in maximal oxygen consumption is often considered as a major determinant explaining the age[1]related decline in aerobic performance. Yet, multiple physiological systems are impaired with ageing and their contribution to aerobic limitation in older individuals is unclear. Understanding how the limitations to aerobic performance may …

Exploring Treatment Burden In People With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2dm) In Primary Care Settings, Kai Lin

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Introduction

Treatment burden is the perceived workload of care by individuals. The treatment burden experienced by individuals with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is a major obstacle to achieving effective healthcare outcomes. The aim of this research is to facilitate better management of treatment burden in people with T2DM in primary care settings.

Methods

A systematic review, encompassing narrative analysis was used to characterise the treatment burden of T2DM and critical appraisal was used to identify the appropriate patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) for measuring this burden. The selected instruments were employed with subsequent questionnaires, followed by patient focus groups. A …

The Physiological And Performance Consequences Of The Australian Special Forces Selection Course, Angela Uphill

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Special Forces (SF) soldiers are the most elite element of military forces, who have undergone rigorous training in order to prepare them for a wide array of specialised missions. In Australia, entry into the SF is determined through the highly competitive SF Selection Course (SF-SC), which is a gruelling program involving extreme physical demands, psychological stress, and restricted access to sleep and nutrition. The stressors involved in arduous military training events such as the SF-SC can result in significant losses of fat mass and lean mass, disruption to hormonal homeostasis, and significant decreases in neuromuscular capacity, which can potentially increase …

Data-Driven Communicative Behaviour Generation: A Survey, Nurziya Oralbayeva, Amir Aly, Anara Sandygulova, Tony Belpaeme

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

The development of data-driven behaviour generating systems has recently become the focus of considerable attention in the fields of human–agent interaction and human–robot interaction. Although rule-based approaches were dominant for years, these proved inflexible and expensive to develop. The difficulty of developing production rules, as well as the need for manual configuration to generate artificial behaviours, places a limit on how complex and diverse rule-based behaviours can be. In contrast, actual human–human interaction data collected using tracking and recording devices makes humanlike multimodal co-speech behaviour generation possible using machine learning and specifically, in recent years, deep learning. This survey provides …

The Legal Framework For The Protection Of Victims Of The Worst Forms Of Child Labour In Agriculture In Ghana: A Human Rights Based Approach, Ruby Akua Aglagoh

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Child labour is prevalent in Ghana, especially in the agriculture industry where children engage in work that is harmful to their health, morals, and safety. Such harmful work has been defined by the ILO Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, 1999 as constituting the worst forms of child labour. These children have human rights stated in the laws of Ghana but have become victims of human rights violations because they cannot access the protections provided for under the international conventions and national laws of Ghana.

Using doctrinal legal research, this thesis reviews the legal framework of …

Performing Britishness: Identity And Popular Music Tribute Shows In Perth, Western Australia, Colin Outhwaite

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research investigates how and why individuals use popular music tribute shows to construct individual and collective identities within the British expatriate community in Perth, Western Australia. Popular music tribute shows involve recontextualised performances of past musical works and rely on shared first-hand or vicarious experiences between musicians and audiences. By examining how individuals and groups use music as a means for strengthening and maintaining cultural identity, the research investigates how musical activity is both a result and influence on the construction and perpetuation of a symbolic and temporal identity group that revolves around shared tastes and experiences.

Western Australian Mothers' Experiences Of Breastfeeding Support In Hospital After Birth: A Mixed Methods Study, Justine Van Der Watt

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Background: The benefits of breastfeeding are well established for infants, mothers and the community, with the World Health Organisation recommending that infants be exclusively breastfed up to six months of age with an achievable goal of 70% globally. Yet in Australia only 15-37% may be reaching that goal. There have also been reported benefits and desires for mothers to be supported with their breastfeeding in order to increase and prolong breastfeeding duration and exclusivity, especially early after birth. However, there is limited research or literature exploring what experiences mothers are having with breastfeeding support, especially during their hospital admissions in …

Slow Choreographies: Addressing Everyday Sexisms In Australian Universities Through Embodied Creative Methods, Emma Fishwick

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Everyday sexisms within Australian universities are like shape shifters that move between bodies, hide inside policies and behind closed doors. This interdisciplinary research project examines how a slow choreographic methodology enables embodied creative processes to give social phenomena a tangible dimension. Centrally situated within an Australian Research Council Discovery Project, Understanding and Addressing Everyday Sexisms in Australian Universities (Everyday Sexisms), this research project thickens, extends, and informs the development of the Everyday Sexisms’ methods and findings in two ways. First, by highlighting how bodies, movement, and objects are involved in the choreography of institutional everyday sexisms. Secondly, by utilising creative …

Prevalence Trends Of Foodborne Pathogens, Bacillus Cereus, Non Stec Escherichia Coli And Staphylococcus Aureus In Ready-To-Eat Foods Sourced From Restaurants, Cafés, Catering And Takeaway Food Premises, Nicole Foxcroft

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The foodborne pathogens of Bacillus cereus (B. cereus), non STEC Escherichia coli (non STEC E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) are currently non-notifiable in Australia unless attributed to a food poisoning outbreak. Due to the lack of data around individual cases and isolations in foods, any changes in prevalence may go undetected. The aim of the study was to determine any changes in prevalence of B. cereus, non STEC E. coli and S. aureus in ready-to-eat foods (RTE) sampled from Western Australian restaurants, cafés, catering facilities, and takeaway food premises during the period July 2009 to June 2022. The …

A Wreck Of Seabirds: Entrapment And Isolation Within The Australian Coastal Gothic Landscape, Karleah May Olson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis explores the concepts of entrapment and isolation as they relate to the Australian Gothic literary mode and coastal landscapes. It does so through a creative work, a novel entitled A Wreck of Seabirds, and an accompanying exegesis, which examines these concepts alongside the shift of the Gothic to Australian landscapes and ultimately to coastal settings, and their representation in fiction. It examines ways in which elements and tropes of the Gothic are utilized in Australian Coastal fiction, particularly through depictions and metaphors of entrapment and isolation. A Wreck of Seabirds is an Australian Coastal Gothic novel set in …

Spatial And Temporal Variation In Population Genetic Diversity In Seagrasses And The Implications For Resilience, Anna Maria Frouws

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Seagrass ecosystems are highly productive and fulfil vital roles in the coastal environment as ecosystem engineers and keystone species. Unfortunately, anthropogenic pressures have resulted in a significant loss of seagrass habitat and associated ecosystem services. The complex and unpredictable nature of these pressures, and their increasing extent and intensity globally, makes resilience-based ecosystem management a valuable approach. Resilience-based management requires knowledge on processes enhancing ecosystem resilience and on actions supporting these processes. Genetic diversity, which is the allelic variation among individuals of a population, has been recognised as one of the pillars of resilient ecosystems. Genetic diversity within a population …

Enhancing Resilience In The Australian Security Vetting Process: Application Of The Psycho-Social Resources For Resilience Scale – Vetting (Prrs-V), Alan James Jnr Davies

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The disclosure or leaking of classified information by a trusted insider is an ongoing challenge for the national security apparatus in Australia and globally (Auditor General, 2018; Scott, 2020). In an effort to ensure that those with access to sensitive information will not disclose it, the Australian Government has a security vetting process. The Australian security vetting process measures a person's integrity by conducting a 'whole of person' assessment against several suitability indicators. In 2015, the Australian Government added resilience as a suitability indicator to its prescribed guidance on personnel security vetting, the Personnel Security Eligibility and Suitability of Personnel …

Transformative Career Theory: A Grounded Theory Study Into The Long-Term Careers Of Australian Youth Workers, John Sutcliffe

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study explores the long-term careers of professional youth workers in Australia with the aim of developing a relevant theory of career grounded in their experiences. Despite the importance of youth work, only a small number of studies has been undertaken on youth work careers both in Australia and internationally. Previous research by the author in 2021 contributed to understanding the long-term youth work career for graduate youth workers in Western Australia, but further data are needed to build a transferable theory or framework. The research problem is clear: what does a career in youth work entail and how can …

Shifting Soil Fungal Communities In Response To Fire And Weed Management In Urban Banksia Woodlands, Aaron Justin Brace

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research aims to fill the knowledge gap in soil fungi in the Banksia woodland and emphasizes considering holistic ecosystem dynamics in invasive species management strategies. This is accomplished by surveying soil fungi under different fire regime across the Swan Coastal Plain, and within both in and ex situ herbicide application trials. This is the first such study to investigate the fungal component of the Banksia woodland so thoroughly. Chapter 2 quantified and analysed changes in soil fungal community composition and functional groups over a 50-year fire chronosequence in fire-prone Banksia woodland in southwestern Australia. Effects were variable, but fungal …

Coordinating The Telematic Music Performance Experience With Telemidi: Synchronising Nodes, Enhancing Musicality, And Delivering Simultaneity, Matthew Clive Bray

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The practice of Telematic Music Performance (TMP), a subset of Network Music Performance (NMP), enables geographically remote musicians to engage in real-time musical interplay, typically occurring over a Wide Area Network (WAN: the Internet). However, the transmission of data between remote collaborators introduces millisecond latencies that obstruct the nuance of traditional human-to-human musical intercourse, and consequentially, the music generated by TMP often lacks rudimentary degrees of syncopation. Reducing network latency has been a critical focal point for research in this field, wherein effective networks support low-latency, multi-modal data transmission to enhance sensations of immersion and telepresence for participants; the sense …

Verbal And Nonverbal Communicative Approaches Used By Reading Teachers To Foster Student Reading For Pleasure In Secondary School, Claire Patricia Smith

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The benefits of reading for pleasure are diverse. As evidence supporting the value of reading for pleasure grows, so does its legitimacy as a catalyst for positive personal and cognitive development, and as a stand-alone subject in education. Reading for pleasure pedagogy (RfPP), distinct from reading instruction, is evolving in tandem with these findings. This pedagogy is predicated on the profile of a Reading Teacher (RT) as a reader who enjoys reading and is prepared to share their personal reading lives to teach their students to read for pleasure. However, this profile may be an ideal rather than the norm. …

Avip 1013 Private Pilot Ground School, Steelman Library

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

Avip 3023 Commercial Pilot Flight I Flight Training, Steelman Library

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

Collaborative Care Intervention For Individuals With Severe Mental Illness: The Partners2 Programme Including Complex Intervention Development And Cluster Rct, Humera Plappert, Richard Byng, Siobhan Theresa Reilly, Charley Hobson-Merrett, Jon Allard, Elina Baker, Nicky Britten, Melanie Calvert, Michael Clark, Siobhan Creanor, Linda Davies, Rebecca Denyer, Julia Frost, Linda Gask, Bliss Gibbons, John Gibson, Laura Gill, Ruth Gwernan-Jones, Joanne Hosking, Peter Huxley, Alison Jeffery, Benjamin Jones, Tom Keeley, Richard Laugharne, Steven Marwaha, Claire Planner, Tim Rawcliffe, Ameeta Retzer, Debra Richards, Ruth Sayers

Peninsula Medical School

Background and aims: Individuals living with severe mental illness such as schizophrenia and bipolar can have significant emotional, cognitive, physical and social challenges. Most people with severe mental illness in the United Kingdom do not receive specialist mental health care. Collaborative care is a system of support that combines clinical and organisational components to provide integrated and person-centred care. It has not been tested for severe mental illness in the United Kingdom. We aimed to develop and evaluate a primary care-based collaborative care model (PARTNERS) designed to improve quality of life for people with diagnoses of schizophrenia, bipolar or other …

Nature-Based Approaches: A Mixed Methods Study Of Facilitators And Barriers To Implementation In Camhs, Siobhan B. Mitchell, Beth Chapman, Rachel Hayes, Hélène Bonnici, Hazel Banks, Silvana Mareva, Rebecca Hardwick

Peninsula Medical School

Background: There is growing evidence that spending time with or in nature can be beneficial for health and wellbeing. Emerging evidence suggests potential benefits for staff and service users in healthcare settings, yet little is known about how to put Nature-based approaches (NBAs) into practice within the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) setting. The CAMHS Goes Wild project in Southwest England aimed to explore the implementation of NBAs within CAMHS, examining staff attitudes and understanding to identify potential benefits and challenges through a mixed methods study. Methods: The study involved three phases of data collection: an online survey …

Association Between Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists Use And Change In Alcohol Consumption: A Systematic Review, Mohsan Subhani, Ashwin Dhanda, James A. King, Fiona C. Warren, Siobhan Creanor, Melanie J. Davies, Sally Eldeghaidy, Stephen Bawden, Penny A. Gowland, Ramon Bataller, Justin Greenwood, Stephen Kaar, Neeraj Bhala, Guruprasad P. Aithal

Peninsula Medical School

Background: Despite the availability of various pharmacological and behavioural interventions, alcohol-related mortality is rising. This systematic review aimed to critically evaluate the existing literature on the association between glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists use (GLP-1 RAs) and alcohol consumption. Methods: Electronic searches were conducted on Ovid Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO, clintrials.gov, and ProQuest until the end of March 2024. An updated search was done on 7th of August 2024. The primary outcome was to explore the association between GLP-1 RAs use and change in alcohol consumption. Secondary outcomes included evaluating the impact of GLP-1 RAs on occurrences of alcohol-related events, healthcare utilisation, …

Which Components Of Behavioral Weight Management Programs Are Essential For Weight Loss In People Living With Obesity? A Rapid Review Of Systematic Reviews, The Progroup Programme Team, Lily K. Hawkins, Lorna Burns, Dawn Swancutt, Shokraneh Moghadam, Jonathan Pinkney, Mark Tarrant

Peninsula Medical School

The optimal treatment and organization of care for people with obesity is one of the greatest challenges facing today's health services. While surgery and pharmacotherapy offer effective treatment options for some people with obesity, behavioral interventions are important to support long-term behavioral change. However, little is known about the most effective components of behavioral interventions, and this is especially the case for people with complex or severe obesity (i.e. body mass index [BMI] > 35 kg/m²). Accordingly, the current rapid review aimed to identify which behavior change techniques (BCTs) are effective for weight loss in adults with (severe) obesity. …

Child Protection And Family Support: Experiences In A Seaside Resort, Thomas El-Hoss, Felicity Thomas, Felix Gradinger, Ms Susanne Hughes

Peninsula Medical School

Effective Early Help services are key to halting rising rates of children in care in the UK. Yet despite family support and child welfare interventions being unequally distributed across the country, the role of ‘place’ has received limited attention in the children's social care arena. This paper examines the connections between coastal challenges, Early Help and child welfare interventions, drawing on embedded research undertaken within a Local Authority on England's coast with elevated levels of children in care. We focus on families’ experiences raising children in a seaside resort area as well as professionals’ perspectives on the place-based challenges faced …

What Is The Volume, Quality And Characteristics Of Evidence Relating To The Effectiveness And Cost-Effectiveness Of Multi-Disciplinary Occupational Health Interventions Aiming To Improve Work-Related Outcomes For Employed Adults? An Evidence And Gap Map Of Systematic Reviews, Elizabeth Shaw, Michael Nunns, Stuart G. Spicer, Hassanat Lawal, Simon Briscoe, G. J. Melendez-Torres, Ruth Garside, Kristin Liabo, Jo Thompson Coon

Peninsula Medical School

Background: In the UK, tens of millions of working days are lost due to work-related ill health every year, costing billions of pounds. The role of Occupational Health (OH) services is vital in helping workers to maintain employment when they encounter injury or illness. OH providers traditionally rely on a clinical workforce to deliver these services, particularly doctors and nurses with OH qualifications. However, the increasing demand for OH services is unlikely to be met in the future using this traditional model, due to the declining number of OH-trained doctors and nurses in the UK. Multi-disciplinary models of OH delivery, …

A Study Of Referral Bias In Nmosd And Mogad Cohorts, Miguel Leal Rato, Bo Chen, Anna Francis, Silvia Messina, Madalina Miron, Yvonne Sharawakanda, Eoin O'Sullivan, Sarah Cooper, Leonora Fisniku, Christopher Halfpenny, Roswell Martin, Jeremy Hobart, Waqar Rashid, Cheryl Hemingway, Victoria Williams, Yael Hacohen, Ruth Dobson, Sithara Ramdas, Maria Isabel Leite, Jacqueline Palace, Ruth Geraldes

Peninsula Medical School

Background: Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) and myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody–associated disease (MOGAD) are rare disorders often seen in highly specialized services or tertiary centres. We aimed to assess if cohort characteristics depend on the origin of the referral catchment areas serviced by our centre (i.e. local, regional or national). Methods: Retrospective cohort study using a national referral service database including local (Oxfordshire), regional (Oxfordshire and neighbouring counties), and national patients. We included patients with the diagnosis of NMOSD, seronegative NMOSD or MOGAD, followed at the Oxford Neuromyelitis Optica Service. Results: We included 720 patients (331 with MOGAD, 333 with …

Transformation Of Autophagic Sqstm1 Droplets To Sqstm1-Dependent P-Bodies, Evelina Valionyte, Elizabeth R. Barrow, Chris R. Baxter, Sharon Herath, Shouqing Luo

Peninsula Medical School

SQSTM1/p62 droplets play crucial roles in droplets-based macroautophagy/autophagy including selective autophagy and bulk autophagy. We observed that under several stress milieus, SQSTM1 droplets entirely colocalize with P-body markers, and these stress-induced SQSTM1 droplets contain mRNAs. We thus determined that under certain stress conditions, autophagic SQSTM1 droplets are converted to a type of enlarged P-bodies, designated SQSTM1/p62-dependent P-bodies (pd-PBs). Stress-enhanced SQSTM1 droplet formation drives the nucleation of pd-PBs through the interaction between SQSTM1 and the RNA-binding protein DDX6. Furthermore, pd-PBs sequester PYCARD, facilitating the assembly of NLRP3 inflammasomes, and in turn induce inflammation-related cytotoxicity. Our study suggests that under stress settings, …

Effect Of Skin Tone On The Accuracy Of The Estimation Of Arterial Oxygen Saturation By Pulse Oximetry: A Systematic Review, Daniel Martin, Chris Johns, Lexy Sorrell, Eugene Healy, Mandeep Phull, Segun Olusanya, Mark Peters, Jeremy Fabes

Peninsula Medical School

Background: Pulse oximetry-derived oxygen saturation (SpO₂) is an estimate of true arterial oxygen saturation (SaO₂). The aim of this review was to evaluate available evidence determining the effect of skin tone on the ability of pulse oximeters to accurately estimate SaO₂. Methods: Published literature was screened to identify clinical and non-clinical studies enrolling adults and children when SpO₂ was compared with a paired co-oximetry SaO₂ value. We searched literature databases from their inception to March 20, 2023. Risk of bias (RoB) was assessed using the QUADAS-2 tool. Certainty of assessment was evaluated …

Preoperative Aerobic Fitness And Perioperative Outcomes In Patients Undergoing Cystectomy Before And After Implementation Of A National Lockdown, Nicholas Tetlow, Amy Dewar, Pietro Arina, Melanie Tan, Ashwin N. Sridhar, John D. Kelly, Nishkantha Arulkumaran, Robert C.M. Stephens, Daniel S. Martin, Suneetha R. Moonesinghe, John Whittle

Peninsula Medical School

Background: Lower fitness is a predictor of adverse outcomes after radical cystectomy. Lockdown measures during the COVID-19 pandemic affected daily physical activity. We hypothesised that lockdown during the pandemic was associated with a reduction in preoperative aerobic fitness and an increase in postoperative complications in patients undergoing radical cystectomy. Methods: We reviewed routine preoperative cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) data collected prior to the pandemic (September 2018 to March 2020) and after lockdown (March 2020 to July 2021) in patients undergoing radical cystectomy. Differences in CPET variables, Postoperative Morbidity Survey (POMS) data, and length of hospital stay were compared. Results: We …