Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Protein Chemistry Of Amyloid Fibrils And Chaperones: Implications For Amyloid Formation And Disease, Justin J. Yerbury, Janet R. Kumita

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Understanding the mechanisms by which amyloid fibrils are formed, both in vivo and in vitro, is vital for developing methods to treat and prevent debilitating deposition diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, type II diabetes and systemic amyloidoses. In recent years, computer modelling and biophysical studies have broadened our understanding of the biochemical mechanisms underpinning protein aggregation. As a result, it is now believed that the ability to form fibrils is an intrinsic property of polypeptide chains and not isolated to disease-related proteins or peptides. Molecular chaperones are a diverse group of functionally related proteins well known for their …

Variation In Seagrass Biomass Estimates In Low And High Density Settings: Implications For The Selection Of Sample Size, Mustafa K. Hossain, Kerrylee Rogers, Neil Saintilan

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Few seagrass biomass monitoring studies have considered the adequacy of monitoring intensity in their design. Power analysis is now widely used in ecological monitoring to determine sample size (replication) and the power (probability of not making a Type II error) of the monitoring design to detect change (effect size). We investigated seasonal variation of above-ground biomass of Zostera species at Woolooware Bay, Botany Bay, NSW and Ukerebagh Channel, Tweed River, NSW to show that seagrass biomass varies significantly between sites and seasonally. By conducting preliminary power analysis at each study site we found that our sampling design would only detect …

Casualisation Of The Teaching Workforce: Implications For Nursing Education, Elizabeth J. Halcomb, Sharon Andrew, Kath Peters, Yenna Salamonson, Debra Jackson

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Internationally, nursing faculty shortages have been reported and there is a potential for them to worsen into the next decade as existing faculty age. To, in part, address this issue, across disciplines there is clearly an international trend towards the increasing casualisation of the higher education workforce. Despite the potential impact of this two-tiered workforce structure, there has been limited examination of the discipline specific issues related to the employment of a growing number of sessional nursing staff. This paper provides a critical review of the literature related to the employment of sessional teachers in higher education. The paper advances …

Aripiprazole Differentially Affects Mesolimbic And Nigrostriatal Dopaminergic Transmission: Implications For Long-Term Drug Efficacy And Low Extrapyramidal Side-Effects, Xu-Feng Huang, Chao Deng, Mei Han

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Aripiprazole has been used effectively to treat schizophrenia in the clinic ; however, its mechanisms ofaction are not clear. This study examined how short- and long-term aripiprazole treatment affects dopaminergic transmission in mesolimbic and nigrostriatal pathways. For comparison, the effects of haloperidol and olanzapine treatment were also examined. Aripiprazole significantly increased D2 receptor mRNA expression and decreased tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) mRNA expression in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) after 1- and 12-wk treatment, but had no effect in substantia nigra (SN) and nucleus accumbens (NAc). Aripiprazole also decreased dopamine transporter (DAT) binding density in NAc (for 1- and 12- wk …

Exploring Co Pollution Episodes Observed At Rishiri Island By Chemical Weather Simulations And Airs Satellite Measurements: Long-Range Transport Of Burning Plumes And Implications For Emissions Inventories, Hiroshi Tanimoto, Keiichi Sato, Tim Butler, Mark G. Lawrence, Jenny A. Fisher, M Kopacz, Robert M. Yantosca, Yugo Kanaya, Shungo Kato, Tomoaki Okuda, Shigeru Tanaka, Jiye Zeng

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

The summer of 2003 was an active forest fire season in Siberia. Several events of elevated carbon monoxide (CO) were observed at Rishiri Island in northern Japan during an intensive field campaign in September 2003. A simulation with a global chemistry-transport model is able to reproduce the general features of the baseline levels and variability in the observed CO, and a source attribution for CO in the model suggests that the contribution from North Asia dominated, accounting for approximately 50% on average, with contributions of 7% from North America and 8% from Europe and 30% from oxidation of hydrocarbons. With …

Characterizing The Litter In Postfire Environments: Implications For Seedling Recruitment, Andrew J. Denham, Robert Whelan, Tony D. Auld

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Litter accumulation after fire influences the magnitude of seed predation and seed germination. How litter accumulation and patchiness influence postfire seedling recruitment is poorly known. Species with persistent seed banks have seeds available for germination in the immediate postfire period. In contrast, plants with transient seed banks must flower after fire to place seeds in the postfire habitat. In southeastern Australian sclerophyll forests, most seedling recruitment occurs within 3 yr after fire. We found that less litter had accumulated in sites mass, including some species with very light seeds. In contrast, the seed mass of transient seed bank species is …

Assessing Alternative And Differential Response: Implications For Social Work Practice In Diverse Communities, Executive Summary, Jill Duerr Berrick, Christina Branom, Amy Conley Wright, Amy Price

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This study examines outcomes, processes, and community context for "Another Road to Safety" (ARS), a Differential Response intervention providing voluntary home visiting to families reported for child maltreatment. Using mixed methods and drawing on diverse data sources (including interviews, focus groups, administrative records, and census tract data), this research will examine implementation of the program model; clients' perspectives on services; preliminary client outcome data; and the impact of neighborhood factors on client outcomes. Findings will inform the development of a research-based curriculum that will facilitate skill-development in implementation, community engagement, and client understanding for Differential Response interventions.

Implications Of Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting Practices In The Australasian Region, Gary Noble, Alan Pomering

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Companys reporting of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities is being increasingly valued and demanded by key stakeholder groups such as consumers as it allows them to evaluate a firms commitment to CSR and to respond to that level of commitment accordingly. This paper examines the CSR web-based reporting practices of Australias top fifty corporations. It reflects on these practices in the context of the literatures call for CSR to be viewed as a holistic approach to management rather than a short-term promotional tool.

Management Implications Of Recent Research Into The Effect Of Bitou Bush Invasion, Kristine O. French, Emilie-Jane Ens, Carl Gosper, Elizabeth Lindsay, Tanya J. Mason, Ben Owers, Natalie A. Sullivan

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

We review recent research into the impact of bitou bush (Chrysanthemoides monilifera spp. rotundata (DC.) Norl.) on coastal ecosystems which suggest this weed is having widespread impacts on ecosystem services, flora and fauna. Increased decomposition rates and altered nutrient cycling accompany changes in plant community structure and composition. Changes in invaded habitats influence invertebrate and bird assemblages. We summarise research that shows that the establishment phase of seedlings is the key phase where bitou bush outcompetes native species through both resource and interference competition mechanisms.

Soil Temperatures During Autumn Prescribed Burning: Implications For The Germination Of Fire Responsive Species?, Trent D. Penman, A L. Towerton

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Prescribed fire is a widely applied management tool in native forests. There have been concerns raised about the ecological impacts of prescribed fire on native flora. One aspect of the debate is the extent towhich prescribed fire heats the soil to levels reported to trigger germination in the soil seed banks.We used Thermochrons to test soil temperatures at 2 and 5 cm in prescribed burns in dry sclerophyll forests. Soil temperatures during the burns were generally low (<40◦C) with less than 5% of sites being exposed to temperatures necessary for the germination of fire-dependent shrub species. High temperatures were associated with high fuel consumption and large woody debris. This information suggests that prescribed fires, carried out according to standard practices, in these forests are unlikely to trigger germination in the majority of the soil-stored seed banks. If ecological burns in these forests are aimed at promoting populations of senescing obligate seeder species, they need to be hotter than standard practice if they are to achieve their objectives, although we acknowledge that there are inherent risks associated with hotter burns.

Spatial Ecology Of The Giant Burrowing Frog (Heleioporus Australiacus): Implications For Conservation Prescriptions, Trent D. Penman, F Lemckert, M J Mahony

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Management of threatened anurans requires an understanding of a species’ behaviour and habitat requirements in both the breeding and non-breeding environments. The giant burrowing frog (Heleioporus australiacus) is a threatened species in south-eastern Australia. Little is known about its habitat requirements, creating difficulties in developing management strategies for the species.Weradio-tracked 33 individual H. australiacus in order to determine their habitat use and behaviour. Data from 33 frogs followed for between 5 and 599 days show that individuals spend little time near (<15 m) their breeding sites (mean 4.7 days for males and 6.3 days for females annually). Most time is spent in distinct non-breeding activity areas 20–250m from the breeding sites. Activity areas of females were further from the breeding site (mean 143 m) than those of males (mean 99 m), but were not significantly different in size (overall mean 500m2; males 553m2; females 307m2). Within activity areas, each frog used 1–14 burrows repeatedly, which weterm home burrows. Existing prescriptions are inappropriate for this species and we propose protection of key populations in the landscape as a more appropriate means of protecting this species.

Reporting Armistice: Grammatical Evidence And Semantic Implications Of Diachronic Context Shifts, Claire Scott

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Journalists reporting war have increasingly been embedded with military units, especially in the recent Iraq War (e.g. Cottle, 2006: 76; Tumber, 2004). Being ‘on the ground’ amongst the action might suggest that the news produced is more strongly ‘grounded in reality’ than reports constructed in the newsroom from news ‘off the wire’. However, this investigation of seven armistice reports from the Sydney Morning Herald spanning a century (1902-2003) suggests that there has been a gradual shift away from strongly grounded, accountable reporting towards engaging, crafted prose. Across the archive of these texts, the patterning of circumstantial elements reflects shifts in …

Frequency Of Communication Within Npd Projects: Implications For Key Measures Of Success, Elias Kyriazis

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The nature of cross-functional relationships during NPD projects has received considerable research attention with an emphasis on achieving successful integration. To achieve this functional integration new product development activities often require functional specialists to communicate with one another to achieve their respective task goals. This study examines the frequency of communication within NPD projects as reported by R&D Manager from 184 Australian NPD projects. We find that informal methods of communication have a positive relationship with three key NPD outcome variables such as perceived relationship effectiveness, interpersonal collaboration and NPD project success. This study provides empirical support for the proposition …

The Information Needs Of Women Diagnosed With Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome - Implications For Treatment And Health Outcomes, Jodie C. Avery, Annette J. Braunack-Mayer

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background This paper reports the findings of an exploratory study about the information women diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) want to know about their condition and the consequences of this information for future treatment and health outcomes. Methods In-depth qualitative interviews regarding their information needs were undertaken with ten South Australian women diagnosed with PCOS. These women were aged 28-38 years and at differing stages of their fertility experience. The time since diagnosis ranged from 1-17 years. The main outcome measures sought were the identification of the information needs of women diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) during different …

Detrital Zircon Ages In Neoproterozoic To Ordovician Siliciclastic Rocks, Northeastern Australia: Implications For The Tectonic History Of The East Gondwana Continental Margin, Christopher L. Fergusson, Robert A. Henderson, C Mark Fanning, Ian W. Withnall

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

U–Pb detrital zircon ages in variably metamorphosed, dominantly fine-grained clastic successions are used in northeastern Australia to identify two major successions along the East Gondwana margin. The older succession is of probable Late Neoproterozoic age and is considered part of a passive margin associated with rifting at c. 600 Ma. Most detrital zircons have ages in the range 1000–1300 Ma and were probably derived from an extension of a Late Mesoproterozoic (1050–1200 Ma) orogenic belt from the central Australian Musgrave Complex located 1500 km to the west. No evidence has been found for 600–800 Ma rifting of a Rodinian supercontinent …

Facts On Fats: What Are The Implications?, Jie J. Wang, Victoria M. Flood, Paul Mitchell

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

We are delighted to see a cross-discipline review article by Chong, Sinclair and Guymer appearing in this issue of CEO (‘Facts on fat’, pp. 464–471). As the authors anticipate, this review provides valuable information to readers of the Journal, who are mostly ophthalmologists. We also believe that this cross-discipline review article will enable readers to better understand the roles of dietary fats, and be in a position to convey better quality information to their patients. Given that a possible association between dietary fatty acid intake and age-related macular degeneration is a current hot topic in the ophthalmic literature, this review …

Detection Of Moisture Stress In Eucalyptus Camaldulensis Using Leaf-Level Spectral Reflectance: Implications For Remote Sensing, Laurie A. Chisholm

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Foliage moisture stress may be detectable by remote sensing using high resolution spectral data, but meaningful diagnosis requires that plant water status be assessed on the ground under controlled conditions. Design parameters of an experimental plantation of E. camaldulensis (River red gum), were used to examine tree-level responses to moisture stress, as measured by xylem water potential, and relationships to physiological parameters including spectral reflectance, chlorophyll flurescence, and cholorphyll across a range of stress categories.

Western Australians' Perceptions Of The Survivability Of Different Cancers: Implications For Public Education Campaigns, Robert J Donovan, Owen Bj Carter, Geoffrey Jalleh, Sandra C. Jones

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.

Dietary Fats And Membrane Function: Implications For Metabolism And Disease, Anthony J. Hulbert, Nigel Turner, Leonard H. Storlein, Paul Else

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Lipids play varied and critical roles in metabolism, with function dramatically modulated by the individual fatty acid moities in complex lipid entities. In particular, the fatty acid composition of membrane lipids greatly influences membrane function. Here we consider the role of dietary fatty acid profile on membrane composition and, in turn, its impact on prevalent disease clusters of the metabolic syndrome and mental illness. Applying the classical physiological conformer-regulator paradigm to quantify the influence of dietary fats on membrane lipid composition (i.e. where the membrane variable is plotted against the same variable in the environment - in this case dietary …

Globalization And National Industrial Relations Systems: Theoretical Implications From The Singapore Case, Tan Ern Ser, Balakrishnan Parasuraman

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

In the 1960’s, Kerr and his associates (1973[1960]) — Dunlop, Harbison, and Myers— proposed the convergence thesis, which resonates with the “end of ideology” thesis propounded by Bell (1962). Not surprisingly, the thesis about the inevitability of societal convergence prompted some scholars to look for continuing diversity, an oft-cited prime example being Japan (Dore, 1973). Indeed, until the late 1980’s, Japan was still touted as a critical case which not only defied the convergence thesis, but could also serve as a growth model worthy of emulation by developing countries aspiring to First World living standards and, paradoxically, even developed countries …

Systems Resemblance And Workpractice Evolution: Implications For Work Activity (Re)Design, Rodney J. Clarke

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper is concerned with addressing the question of how apparently disparate and unconnected systems can resemble each other. The question of what counts as a systems resemblance necessitates developing contextual workpractice descriptions associated with the systems features and ultimately entire systems. Using systemic semiotics an apparent ontogenetic convergence between entirely different systems is used to show that systems resemblance can be inferred when the constituent workpractices of information systems consist of comparable register features and especially if they exhibit comparable generic features. The implications of these findings for a new class of work activity (re)design practices are considered.

Radiocarbon In Corals From The Cocos (Keeling) Islands And Implications For Indian Ocean Circulation, Q Hua, Colin D. Woodroffe, Scott Smithers, M Barbetti, David Fink

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Annual bands of a Porites coral from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, eastern Indian Ocean, were analysed by radiocarbon for 1955–1985 AD. A rapid oceanic response of the site to bomb 14C is found, with a maximum D14C value of 132% in 1975. This value is considerably higher than those for the northwestern Indian Ocean, suggesting that surface waters reaching Cocos are not derived from the Arabian Sea. Instead, D14C values for Cocos and those for Watamu (Kenya) agree well over most of the study interval, suggesting that the South Equatorial Current carries 14C-elevated water rather than 14C-depleted water westward across …

Fgf-2 Counteracts Loss Of Tgfβ Affected Cells From Rat Lens Explants: Implications For Pco (After Cataract), Kylie Mansfield, Anna Cerra, Coral Chamberlain

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Purpose: While cataract surgery initially benefits most patients, many suffer secondary loss of vision because of posterior capsule opacification (PCO). Lens epithelial cells left behind at surgery become aberrant and migrate into the light path. TGF-beta (TGFβ) appears to play a key role in this process by inducing the cells to undergo an epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Paradoxically, it also typically induces them to undergo apoptotic death. The present study was undertaken to investigate the hypothesis that FGF plays a role in PCO formation by promoting the survival of abnormal cells with PCO-like characteristics.

Methods: Rat lens epithelial explants were cultured for …

New Zealanders' Attitudes To Milk: Implications For Public Health, Carol A. Wham, Anthony Worsley

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objective: To identify consumer attitudes and beliefs about (liquid) milk that may be barriers to consumption.

Design: Two random-quota telephone surveys conducted in Auckland one year apart. Respondents were questioned about their usual milk intake and their attitudes to milk. The questionnaire included attitude items that reflected the main themes of consumer interest in milk.

Setting: New Zealand.

Subjects: Seven hundred and thirteen respondents in the baseline survey and a separate sample of 719 respondents in the follow-up survey.

Results: At least one-third of the respondents consumed less than a glass (250ml) of milk a day. Non-consumption was highest in …

Diagenesis And Geochemistry Of Porites Corals From Papua New Guinea: Implications For Paleoclimate Reconstruction, Helen V. Mcgregor, M Gagan

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.

An Appraisal Of Socially Responsible Investments And Implications For Trustees And Other Investment Fiduciaries, Paul U. Ali, Martin Gold

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper examines the suitability for trustees and other investment fiduciaries of the class of investments known variously as "socially responsible", "ethical", "screened", "social" or "sustainable" investments, in the context of the legal duties imposed on fiduciaries to invest the fund entrusted to them in a prudent manner. The paper is intended to provide trustees and investment fiduciaries with the legal tools for appraising socially responsible investments, a task fraught with difficulties given the political sensitivities and controversies associated with such investments. An estimated $1.9 billion has been invested according to socially responsible investment r'SRI") strategies by Australian managed investment …

Risk, Needs And Responsivity In Violence Rehabilitation: Implications For Programs With Indigenous Offenders, Kevin Howells, Andrew Day, Stuart Byrne, Mitchell K. Byrne

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

As a group of forensic psychologists with a background in clinical practice and research with offenders, we share the perception that sensitivity to cultural issues is a neglected area in offender rehabilitation. Perhaps this should be stated more strongly: that cultural dimensions of offender rehabilitation programs require urgent attention. We are working to understand how rehabilitation programs can be most appropriately offered to Aboriginal offenders, with a particular interest in programs dealing with anger, aggression and violence ( Howells et al, 1997). Our starting point in this area has been an interest in whether the rehabilitation of offenders works - …