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Assessments of patient safety for multidimensional risk management in robotic dentistry
No full textDentistry is an essential practice to maintain the health of the oral cavity, but barriers to accessibility, dental fear, and the lack of oral health awareness have led to a high prevalence of dental diseases globally. Dental robotics has emerged as a new field of dentistry and can provide numerous benefits to dental professionals and society from increased accessibility to improved standardisation of dental techniques. The current design of the dental setup limits high autonomy applications and, without robot risk awareness, it is unlikely that robots will ever overcome the safety concerns for autonomous application on patients. This thesis re-evaluates the dental setup and defined levels of autonomy for medical robots. It also outlines a framework for risk supervision and automated risk management for dental robots. Along with a simplified model for decision-making, aspects of risk supervision detection methods were developed in MATLAB, tested in simulation with Unity, and then analysed in Python. Initial dental robot experiments were performed with virtual and physical simulation testing for a partially dynamic dental environment using a small Meca500 robot arm that is relatively non-confrontational and would be well suited to small dental practices. The multi-dimensional risk assessments can inform future risk analyses for operations on conscious patients. Correct implementation of robots is critical to develop trust in both patients and clinicians, which in turn helps to create a more stable and safe dental environment for robots to perform high quality dental procedures
Assays of haemostasis in the diagnosis and monitoring of haemophilia
No full textOptimal management of factor replacement therapies for persons with haemophilia requires accurate
measurements of post-infusion factor levels to support dosing regimens that minimise the risks of
bleeding events from underdosing, while preventing overdosing of expensive product. In the past 10
years there have been major additions to therapeutic options for haemophilia, including the
development of extended half-life (EHL) factor replacement products and non-factor replacement
therapies including bi-specific antibodies. The main aims of the current work are to evaluate and
validate some of the newer methods for product measurement, supported by field studies of
measurement by Australian specialist haemostasis laboratories. Emphasis has been placed on
validating newer assays including the chromogenic FIX assays and emicizumab assays and
exploring the suitability of current clotting and chromogenic assays for the measurement of new products. The main replacement products studied were those currently licensed for use in Australia
by the National Blood Authority, and which therefore have the most relevance for specialist
haemostasis testing laboratories nationwide. Recombinant factor replacement products, non-factor
replacement products and gene therapies for the treatment of HA and HB continue to be developed.
Each of these will need assessment in terms of best methods of laboratory measurement and their
impact on other coagulation assays if or when they are funded for use in Australia
Inter Alia: An Ontology of Contemporary Australian and New Zealand Artists’ Practice
No full textThis thesis examines the conceptual, material, and ethical dimensions of contemporary sculptural practice through the work of six artists connected to Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand: Hany Armanious, Kate Newby, Francis Carmody, John Ward Knox, Zac Langdon-Pole, and Francis Upritchard. The research explores intersections of materiality, artistic process, viewer experience, national identity (in art), and international art practice. It is informed by the author’s own artistic practice in ceramics and sculpture, with critical analysis of artworks by the selected artists. The investigation is underpinned by a qualitative methodology, with interviews serving as the primary source of research, supplemented by secondary source analysis and personal encounters with the artists’ work.
Key concerns addressed in this study include the role of tacit knowledge, embodied knowledge, and material agency - engaging with theoretical frameworks such as Vibrant Matter and Relational Aesthetics. The thesis interrogates how material and conceptual rigour function as epistemological tools that shape artistic inquiry. It also considers how artists navigate the ethical implications of material use, and how their practices intersect with broader ecological, social, and political concerns.
Significantly, the research reveals a shared emphasis among the artists on process-driven approaches that foreground interpolation, material intuition, and a rhizomatic model of creating and sharing work. These practices are contextualised within a Southern Hemisphere perspective, critically reflecting on questions of belonging, post-colonial legacies, and the relationship between local and global art networks. By tracing these interwoven concerns, this study positions contemporary sculpture as a site of critical and imaginative potential - where artists reframe inherited narratives, question dominant systems of value, and expand the possibilities of what artistic practice can contribute to the world
Light Field Based 6DoF Tracking of Previously Unobserved Objects
No full textObject tracking is an important step in robotics and autonomous driving pipelines, which has to generalize to previously unseen and complex objects. Existing high-performing methods often rely on pre-captured object views to build explicit reference models, which restricts them to a fixed set of known objects. However, such reference models can struggle with visually complex appearance, reducing the quality of tracking. In this work, we introduce an object tracking method based on light field images that does not depend on a pre-trained model, while being robust to complex visual behavior, such as reflections. We extract semantic and geometric features from light field inputs using vision foundation models and convert them into view-dependent Gaussian splats. These splats serve as a unified object representation supporting differentiable rendering and pose optimization. We further introduce a light field object tracking dataset containing challenging reflective objects with precise ground truth poses. Experiments demonstrate that our method is competitive with state-of-the-art model-based trackers in these difficult cases, paving the way toward universal object tracking in robotic systems.
Each sequence contains the following directory structure:
├── camera_matrix.txt
├── camera_poses
├── depth
├── depth_video.gif
├── gdino_prompt.txt
├── LF_0000
...
├── LF_XXXX
├── metadata.json
├── object_poses
└── video.gif
Each frame in the sequence has its own folder and the light field sub-aperture views are contained within. The depth maps are contained within the depth folder. The camera and object poses are contained within the camera_poses and object_poses directories respectively
Costs, benefits and diagnostic accuracy of machine learning applications for the autonomous detection of melanoma in high-risk individuals.
No full textMelanoma of the skin is one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers in Australia, with an estimated 18,257 new cases and over 1300 deaths in 2023. Australia continues to record the highest global incidence. Early detection of invasive melanoma is critical for survival, and timely diagnosis remains a priority. While population-level screening is not recommended, research has demonstrated that screening for melanoma in a high-risk clinic in Australia can be cost-effective.
Methods to improve melanoma detection include the use of artificial intelligence, or the practical application, machine learning. Initial trials suggested dermatologists outperformed machine learning algorithms; however, more recent studies demonstrate machine learning achieving, and in some cases surpassing, dermatologist-level diagnostic accuracy.
This thesis examines the existing body of literature on the use of machine learning to detect melanoma in adults at high-risk of developing melanoma of the skin, focusing on diagnostic accuracy, costs and benefits. Chapter 1 provides an overview of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer; Chapter 2 is a narrative review of machine learning in healthcare. Chapter 3 outlines the protocol for the scoping review and Chapter 4 is the scoping review. 9,188 records were screened, of which 55 studies met the inclusion criteria. Machine learning demonstrated high diagnostic accuracy in controlled settings with 78% of reader studies reporting ROAUC >0.8, compared to 60% of studies in a clinical setting. Only five studies reported on costs and benefits in high-risk populations, two conducted formal economic evaluations. One found no significant cost-effectiveness advantage, while the other reported cost savings and reduced clinician workload with machine learning. Evidence supporting the use of machine learning in high-risk populations remains limited, particularly regarding cost-effectiveness and studies in real-world clinical settings
Skew-product graph of groups and their toolkits
No full textThe K-theory associated with a C*-algebra plays a fundamental role in the classification and structural understanding of C*-algebras.
This thesis investigates the C*-algebras associated with graphs of groups, a rich mathematical structure first systematically developed by Bass and Serre in their foundational work on group actions on trees. We adapt and extend the skew-product construction for directed graphs to the graph of groups setting. Specifically, given a cocycle labelling the edges of a graph of groups by a discrete group, a definition of skew-product graphs of groups is provided. The main theoretical contribution demonstrates that there is a natural connection between the skew-product graph of groups C*-algebra and the crossed product by the induced coaction. In addition, this definition of skew-product graphs of groups is shown to be consistent with the existing definition of skew-product graphs, in terms of the directed graph associated to graphs of groups E_G. Finally, using the existing isomorphism between graphs of groups C*-algebras and its fibred product groupoid algebra, the isomorphism between the skew-product graph of groups C*-algebra and the crossed product by the induced coaction is extended to the crossed product fibred product groupoid algebra by coaction.
This thesis also includes a survey of K-theory for C*-algebras, including the K-theory of graph algebras. The last chapter also acts as a literature review of the recent developments in K-theory for both graph of groups C*-algebras and graph of groups actions on multitrees
Psychosocial Navigator role - key attributes
No full textThe 2023 NDIS Review recommended the introduction of a specialist ‘Navigator’ role with expertise in
psychosocial disability to assist people with disability in a complex support system. Navigators are important
for multiple different systems supporting people with psychosocial disability including the NDIS and targeted
Foundational Supports for psychosocial disability
Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection: Determinants of Clinical Outcomes, Quality-of-Care, and Quality-of-Life
No full textBackground
Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is an increasingly recognised cause of acute coronary syndrome (ACS), predominantly in young women without traditional risk factors.
Aims
The overall aim of this thesis was to assess the long-term clinical outcomes, quality-of-life (QOL) and quality of care (QOC) for patients with SCAD.
Methods
A multi-centre cohort study, the Australia-New Zealand (ANZ) SCAD Registry, assessed clinical outcomes with multivariable Cox proportional hazard models used to explore factors associated with MACE and SCAD recurrence. QOL in SCAD survivors was assessed using the EQ-5D-3L questionnaire. A systematic review was performed to explore QOC in patients with SCAD. An online survey of Australian SCAD survivors determined patients’ perspectives on QOC and its relationship to QOL.
Results
A total of 505 were recruited to the ANZ-SCAD Registry. On multi-variable analysis, oral anticoagulation (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 3.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.6–9.3, P = 0.003), dual-antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) comprising ticagrelor and aspirin (aHR 1.8, 95%, CI 1.04–3.2, P = 0.037), FMD (aHR 2.2, 95% CI 1.05–4.5, P = 0.037), and history of stroke (aHR 3.8, 95% CI 1.2–12.2, P = 0.03) were associated with increased risk of MACE. FMD (aHR 3.9, 95% CI 1.5–26.5, P = 0.01), DAPT comprising ticagrelor and aspirin (aHR 2.6, 95% CI 2.1–5.3, P = 0.01), and history of stroke (aHR 6.2, 95% CI 1.8–9.5, P = 0.01) were associated with increased SCAD recurrence.
Conclusion
This thesis demonstrates that SCAD was associated with ongoing risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes, particularly in patients with fibromuscular dysplasia and dual antiplatelet therapy comprising ticagrelor. There was a significant physical and psychological burden, with QOC strongly linked to QOL. Collectively, these findings highlight the need for tailored management strategies, improved consistency of care, and greater patient support to optimise outcomes after SCAD
Supporting Distributed Health Literacy and Family-based decision making in Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer
No full textBackground/Aims. Health literacy represents a pre-requisite to empowerment and participation in health-related decision-making. Yet, in adolescent and young adult cancer patients and survivors (AYAs), both health literacy and decision-making processes remain largely understudied. Given that health literacy skills are commonly often distributed across an individuals’ networks, parents and families may play a key role in either bolstering or compensating for an AYAs’ health literacy skills. The research aimed to qualitatively explore health literacy from the perspective of health professionals working with AYAs.
Methods. This thesis involved two qualitative research studies exploring the perspectives of health professionals working with AYAs. Interviews with 30 health professionals examined their understanding of the construct of health literacy in AYAs, as well as their perspectives of how family members are involved in processes related to how AYA health literacy is acquired and used.
Results. Qualitative study results revealed significant variability in how health professionals understood health literacy as a general construct and highlighted the potential implications of divergent practices in how health professionals aimed to enhance AYA health literacy. Our results supported the relevance of the model of distributed health literacy in this cohort.
Conclusion. By illustrating the process of triadic decision-making across families, AYAs and their clinicians, these research findings can inform the development of shared decision-making frameworks for communicating health information to AYAs and their families. Extending the distributed health literacy framework to the AYA setting can serve as a valuable resource for enhancing the development and utilisation of health literacy among AYAs, indicating that system-based strategies may be effective in empowering AYAs in managing their healthcare
Submission to the News Bargaining Incentive
No full textIn this submission, we have responded to a selected set of questions outlined in the
Treasury Consultation Paper. Our main recommendations are:
1. Considerations should be given to extending the Incentive to apply to major generative
AI platforms and not simply restricted to social media and search services.
2. Gross annual Australian revenue collected (including GST) should be the basis on which
the significance of a digital platform is determined.
3. The charge base of total gross revenue generated in Australia (including GST),
aggregated across a company as a whole should provide the basis for determining
inclusion in the Incentive.
4. Consideration should be given to enabling smaller publishers to undertake collective
bargaining arrangements for the purposes of engagement with the Incentive process, in
order to address concerns about the exclusion of smaller news publishers from the News
Media Bargaining Code,
5. There should be strengthened reporting requirements around both the funding
received by news publishers through the Incentive, and the uses of such funding, to
strengthen accountability, transparency and public confidence in the Incentive