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Forum Disruption: The Excessive Application of Public Policy and Mandatory Rules to Transnational Choice of Forum Clauses
No full textAre parties to a transnational contract dispute able, and should they be permitted, to employ domestic laws to escape their agreed forum for the resolution of disputes? Or should party autonomy and the need for certainty in international contractual relations outweigh the policies embodied in such laws? Is there a clear test or are parties left to guess whether their agreement might be overridden?
This thesis will evaluate evolving authorities to expose the uncertain and inconsistent creation of mandatory rules coupled with the excessive application of public policy and mandatory rules to override transnational choice of forum clauses. Against forum disruption, it will be argued that choice of forum clauses ought to be given greater priority over statutory mandatory rules than currently afforded in Australia. This will enhance predictability and promote congruence with international forums
Optimising the treatment of central nervous system cancers with radiotherapy in adult and paediatric patients
No full textCNS tumours in adults and children carry some of the worst prognoses of all cancers. Radiotherapy remains integral to their treatment, particularly for primary high-grade tumours and brain metastasis. The planning and delivery of therapy is technically demanding, requiring precise treatment of tumours that can rapidly progress, delivered to unwell patients and in situations where treatment must be urgently commenced.Maximising tumour control whilst minimising dose to critical organs at risk, remains challenging in the brain. This thesis presents investigations into strategies to optimise the planning and delivery of radiotherapy in both adult and paediatric patients. Four interrelated studies were conducted across all stages of radiotherapy simulation, planning, quality assurance and treatment delivery. The focus of the research was to examine clinically important issues that could be used to improve treatment quality and accuracy.
The first study quantified the impact of the change in brain metastasis during the radiosurgical planning process, demonstrating that clinically significant variations necessitating re-planning occur in a substantial portion of patients. The second study examined the use of knowledge-based planning with RapidPlan for children with diffuse midline glioma, demonstrating that high-quality plans could be produced rapidly, in a clinically urgent situation. The third paper evaluated the introduction of a multi-disciplinary quality assurance checkpoint to improve plan conformity and reduce organ at risk doses. The final study analysed real-world patient setup accuracy and dosimetric impact in cranial-spinal radiotherapy for paediatric, adolescent, and young adult patients.
Collectively, these studies highlight practical and clinically implementable methods to improve the quality of central nervous system radiotherapy
Nutrient Transport in the Male Pregnant Seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis
No full textMale seahorses have the most complex brooding structure known among oviparous brooding vertebrates, where males internally fertilise and incubate embryos in an enclosed brood pouch until live birth, a process analogous to viviparity. The inner tissue layer of the brood pouch represents the male component of a functional placenta, analogous to the female placenta in viviparous species. The aim of this thesis was to identify the range of nutrients supplied via patrotrophy in the male-pregnant pot-bellied seahorse, H. abdominalis, to test the hypothesis that wide-ranging parentotrophy has convergently evolved in male brooding and viviparous vertebrates, irrespective of sex or gestating organ. I begin with a review of the widespread methodological inconsistencies in how teleost literature assigns provisioning strategies based on a parentotrophy index (PI) threshold. I recommend consistent methodology for obtaining and interpreting a PI, and propose alternative methods for identifying provisioning strategy. Next, protein, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus
content were measured in newly fertilised embryos (NFE) and neonates using mass spectrometry. A
significant increase in all measured nutrients was observed in neonates compared to NFE, providing the first evidence that a male brooding vertebrate has convergently evolved wide-ranging mechanisms for patrotrophy, analogous to matrotrophy in viviparous vertebrates. Lastly, I characterise an acellular layer closely apposed to the pregnant brood pouch of H. abdominalis, using light microscopy and immunohistochemistry. The layer is only present during pregnancy, is composed of acid mucins and is partially composed of oviductal glycoprotein 1. Using an extreme example of convergent evolution, my work further supports the hypothesis that viviparity, or the internal incubation and close association of parental and embryonic tissues with the release of live young, and parentotrophy consistently co-evolve across taxa and sex
Boosting Retention of Women in Construction: Improving Transitions in and out of Parental Leave: Rapid literature review
No full textAustralia’s construction sector continues to struggle to attract and retain women workers. A key area of strategic importance is how women are supported in the workplace before, during and after taking parental leave. Research has found that these periods are pivotal in a woman’s career, and the decision to remain in or return to work. There has so far been little research into the experiences of women in construction before, during and after pregnancy and parental leave, and how to help employers and workers navigate this critical time.
This review provides an overview of the literature on how women “transition” between the workplace and parental leave, as pregnant workers taking leave as new parents returning to work. It identifies examples of leading policies and practices within construction and other industries and it highlights areas where more research is needed. The review is part of a broader project investigating how to assist women to remain in frontline construction roles in NSW during pregnancy and after taking parental leave.
Construction is Australia’s most male-dominated industry. Despite numerous efforts to improve gender equality in the sector, women make up only 13.6% of the workforce (ABS 2024). Among trades workers, women comprise only 3% of workers (ABS 2021).
The barriers to women staying and progressing in the sector are well known. The working culture can be harmful and hostile to women. Women in construction have experienced sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying. They are excluded from workplaces by a lack of female facilities and belittled by male colleagues who question their competence.
Work practices in the industry are another obstacle to women’s participation. Construction workers are expected to be available for long and inflexible work days, driven by pressures to complete projects on tight timelines and budgets. These work practices are incompatible with other responsibilities that many women have, such as caring for children.
Parental leave entitlements in the sector are patchy. According to the National Employment Standards, all employees who have worked with their employer for at least 12 months, including casual employees, can take unpaid parental leave and have their job protected for at least 12 months. The Australian Government Parental Leave Pay scheme currently provides 22 weeks of leave paid at the national minimum wage to parents who meet the criteria. However, employer provided parental leave schemes in the sector are limited, and many employees do not experience the full benefits of the statutory provisions, such as having their job protected for 12 months
Theory of multicolor soliton microcombs
No full textWe present a general theory of multicolor soliton microcombs. These frequency combs require engineered dispersion and have an optical spectrum consisting of multiple spectral windows, centered at distinct frequencies. Our theory is based on a multiple-scale approach applied to the Lugiato-Lefever equation, and provides a framework to investigate different pumping configurations. For multi-frequency pumping, we predict a decreasing pumping threshold as the number of spectral windows increases due to an enhanced effective nonlinear parameter. However, comb formation does not require multi-frequency pumping and can emerge even with a single driving field. Our theoretical predictions are in excellent agreement with numerical simulations
Touring Exhibitions from China to Australia since 1972
No full textThe year 2022 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the normalisation of diplomatic ties between Australia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Over the past fifty years, numerous efforts have been made to facilitate cultural exchanges and foster mutual understanding between China and Australia. Australia-China engagement in culture brings significant dividends to both countries and adds value to the bilateral relationship. As touring exhibitions become regular fixtures in the Chinese-Australian cultural calendar, this research argues that touring exhibitions sent from China to Australia are intended to portray China as an open, civilised, innovative, and tolerant country. The thesis analyses touring exhibitions that have been sent from China to Australia since 1972. These exhibitions will be analysed in chronological order. By exploring the genealogy of touring exhibitions from 1972 onwards, this thesis will illustrate why such exhibitions have been selected and sent. It will explore the factors contributing to the aims and motivations of touring exhibitions from China. In particular, the thesis will examine whether such exhibitions have contributed to China’s cultural diplomacy and intended to shape the image of China as an open, civilised, innovative, and tolerant country
The Geopolitics of Greek Foreign Policy: From the Great Idea to Great Ideas?
No full textThe thesis identifies a vital research gap that has been overlooked in the labyrinth that is Greek foreign affairs. To date, there lacks research on the driver of Greek foreign policy and thus, the vital question is posed: Is the ‘policy’ in foreign affairs articulated by a legitimate strategy or are such matters come down to the individual decisions of the Greek Prime Minister? In answering this question, the research is approached from the geopolitical theory of the Rimland Bridge (Greece, Cyprus and Turkey) whereby from this region alone, Great Powers can dominate both the Rimland (Europe and Asia) as well as the Heartland (Russia). However, the Rimland Bridge also suffers from the ‘Guardian’s Dilemma’ or the constant challenge of Greek and Turkish rivalry. Historically, the research has proved that from 1821 to 2019, Greek foreign policy was driven by the decisions of the Greek leadership rather than a formulated strategy. In aligning Greece with the respective Great Powers of the Rimland Bridge, successive Greek Prime Ministers’ attempted to maintain a relationship of reciprocity. For Greece, this included the protection of the Great Powers, as well as their support in Greek territorial expansions (Great Idea), and later ventures such as joining NATO and the EU (Great Ideas). Since 2019, Greek foreign policy remains driven by the sporadic decisions of the current Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. In addition to protection, Greece relies on the US and France, as well as NATO and the EU, for support in resolving all Greek ‘National Issues’ with Turkey and containing Turkey’s broader revisionism. However, despite maintaining the status quo, Greece’s absence of a strategy is failing to halt Turkey’s Blue Homeland and its goal of conquering the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean. In light of these findings, my research proves Greek foreign policy, particularly with regard to geopolitical territories, requires the adoption of a specific ‘Greek Grand Strategy’
Resilient and Secure Distributed Ledgers: Adversary Models, Efficient Consensus, and System Design
No full textByzantine Fault-Tolerant (BFT) protocols enable distributed ledgers to operate without a single trusted party, tolerating up to a threshold of Byzantine faults. While traditional BFT was designed for closed systems with few participants, blockchain applications are open systems with thousands of internet-connected participants. This transition introduces two critical vulnerabilities unaddressed by classical BFT: (1) nodes' susceptibility to internet Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks, and (2) potential correlated failures when participants use similar configurations, violating the fault independence assumption.
This thesis addresses these vulnerabilities through three contributions. First, it introduces the Mobile Crash Adaptive Byzantine (MCAB) adversary model, capturing mobile DoS attacks. Protocols are proven to require either concealment (hiding node identities until after broadcasting) or abundance (having more nodes per role than the adversary can target) to maintain liveness under MCAB.
Second, it expands modern Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) based BFT for system models captured by MCAB. The first constant latency dynamically available DAG-based BFT protocol is proposed. A novel primitive, Graded Common Prefix (GCP), enables nodes to agree on a common DAG subset without standard consensus. Combining these yields a flexible protocol allowing clients to choose between prioritizing liveness or safety while benefiting from modern DAG BFT's high performance.
Third, the thesis addresses fault independence through incentive mechanisms encouraging diverse node configurations. Since costs related to various configurations—from software implementation to geo-location—are hard to quantify, control mechanisms from reinforcement learning and control theory are leveraged, as they function without requiring analytical solutions to the underlying system
Illuminating the photonic lantern: coherent spectro-polarimetric characterisation for high angular resolution astronomy
No full textPhotonic technologies offer an enticing means to reach exquisite detail with high angular resolution measurements of astrophysical scenes through precision measurement and control. Over the past decade, photonic lanterns have become key components for applications requiring mode sorting ranging from astronomical imaging to free-space communications. In these applications, knowledge of the electric field needs to be inferred from intensity measurements alone or beam-shape control is needed. While these devices can efficiently and uniquely map a set of input modes to single-mode outputs (or vice versa), the optical mode transfer matrix of any particular fabricated device cannot be fully specified at the design stage due to manufacturing limitations. This thesis presents a characterisation system to directly measure the electric field from a photonic lantern using digital off-axis holography, following its evolution over a 73 nm range near 1550 nm and in two orthogonal, linear polarisations. Performance of the testbed is validated on a single-mode fibre and applied to a 19-port, multicore fibre based photonic lantern. The first broadband multi-wavelength, polarisation decomposed characterisation of the mode transfer matrix of a photonic lantern is presented. As part of this characterisation, the system measures the position of zero path difference between different ports and polarisations, reveals the typical wavelength scale over which the modal mapping evolves and quantifies the mode dispersion within the device itself. In addition to detailing the system, empirical mode transfer matrices, raw data and post-processing code are shared, enabling future work in astrophotonics to understand where photonic lanterns fit in the wider picture of high angular resolution astronomical instrumentation
Talking about life and work: Exploring Aboriginal employees’ experiences of the fit between Central Australian lifeworlds and NGO workplace practices and service delivery models
No full textAboriginal employees play a vital role in non-government organisations in Central Australia however there remains a continual under-representation of Aboriginal people in the human service workforce in this remote area. This qualitative study explored the experience of Aboriginal employees in Central Australian non-government organisations (NGOs) and examined the congruence between local Aboriginal lifeworlds and NGO service delivery models and workplace practices. A theoretical framework was used that brought into conversa on critical theory, concepts of voice and dialogue, and Central Australian First Nations’ knowledge systems. Seventeen Aboriginal employees who had experience working in one or more NGOs in Central Australia participated in in-depth conversations, narrating personal experiences of the workplaces. Thematic analysis was used from which four themes emerged. “Recognition, Respect and Voice” outlined the centrality of Country, Family and Law and the way these local ontologies are recognised, respected, and given voice by Aboriginal staff but are often contested in the workplace. “Work and Wellbeing” captured the narratives of workplaces harms and healing, outlining supportive workplace practices. “Colleagues and Managers” highlighted the importance of attention to working collectively in relationships of mutuality. “Employment Journey, Learning Journey” documented the integrated nature of employment and learning and the significance role NGOs play in workplace learning and development that has ramifications beyond the workplace. The findings suggest that recognising and respecting Central Australian Aboriginal ontologies is fundamental for employment policy and practices in NGOs in this part of remote Australia, to increase Aboriginal workplace participatory parity, employee wellbeing, and culturally responsive service delivery