19325 research outputs found
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Fighting and mating success in giant Australian cuttlefish is influenced by behavioural lateralization
No full textBehavioural lateralization is widespread. Yet, a fundamental question remains, how can lateralization be evolutionary stable when individuals lateralized in one direction often significantly outnumber individuals lateralized in the opposite direction? A recently developed game theory model predicts that fitness consequences which occur during intraspecific interactions may be driving population-level lateralization as an evolutionary stable strategy. This model predicts that: (i) minority-type individuals exist because they are more likely to adopt unpredictable fighting behaviours during competitive interactions (e.g. fighting); and (ii) majority-type individuals exist because there is a fitness advantage in having their biases synchronized with other conspecifics during interactions that require coordination (e.g. mating). We tested these predictions by investigating biases in giant Australian cuttlefish during fighting and mating interactions. During fighting, most male cuttlefish favoured the left eye and these males showed higher contest escalation; but minority-type individuals with a right-eye bias achieved higher fighting success. During mating interactions, most male cuttlefish favoured the left eye to inspect females. Furthermore, most male cuttlefish approached the female\u27s right side during a mating attempt and these males achieved higher mating success. Our data support the hypothesis that population-level biases are an evolutionary consequence of the fitness advantages involved in intraspecific interactions
Behavioural and brain biomarker responses in yellowfin bream (Acanthopagrus australis) after inorganic mercury ingestion
No full textTo assess the effects of inorganic mercury ingestion on fish general behaviour and brain biochemical markers (acetylcholinesterase – AChE; lipid peroxidation – LPO; glutathione S-transferase – GST; catalase – CAT), juvenile yellowfin bream(Acanthopagrus australis) were fed mercury dosed food (low = 0.7 mg kg−1, medium = 2.4 mg kg−1 and high = 6 mg kg−1) or undosed food (control = 0.2 mg kg−1) for up to 16 days (5 replicates per treatment). Behavioural indicators, LPO levels and GST activity significantly changed overtime, but were not affected by mercury concentration. In contrast, CAT activity was higher in exposed fish in comparison to controls after 4 days, but not after 8 and 16 days. An additional depuration treatment was evaluated and fish from this treatment were less active and had significantly lower LPO levels and CAT activity than fish constantly exposed to the medium treatment. Overall, results from the present study indicate that a diet containing inorganic mercury impaired yellowfin bream growth and initially affected fish brain CAT activity, however fish were able to recover even with continuous exposure
Skweeel : towards a method for music production with an automated large-format analogue audio mixing console used as a sound-generating device through controlled Larsen effects
No full textLarge-format analogue consoles such as the Neve VR, VX and 88R, or the Solid State Logic SL 4000 G and XL 9000 K, are being relegated to history in all but the orchestral recording market. In studios around the planet, they are being replaced by more affordable all-digital solutions or much smaller format analogue front-end consoles.
Since the early 20th century, electronic musicians and producers have been striving for new sounds which set them apart from other artists. The variety of tones that can emerge from a console within a normal recording or mixing session, due to accidental feedback loops, is promising in that regard. Producing these feedback loops deliberately and using them in a totally controlled, creative sound production and live performance, enables exploration of the nature and potential of these phenomena. The console itself acts as a multi-timbral polyphonic synthesiser, with each of its signal paths delivering one sound. Whilst the console’s automation system effectively becomes a sequencer, controlling the occurrence of the sounds, as well as their changes in timbre and pitch.
Within the practice-based research paradigm framework, the purpose of this study is to explore and assess this degree of control over pitch and timbre when using a large-format automated analogue studio console with internally generated feedback loops. Research was documented via social media blogging and a process diary. The research output includes a public performance and HD video of said performance, and a written exegesis.
The research outcomes suggest that using a large format automated analogue console to produce feedback loop-based music, has the potential to breach the confines in which No-Input-Mixer music has been constrained so far. Thus, not only would studio owners around the world potentially consider their investment in analogue music production equipment under a new light, but so would artists and producers be offered a viable tool in other genres of music production – this repurposing of large format analogue consoles, extending their life well into the 21st Century
Exploring the depths of the rainforest: a metaphor for teaching critical reflection
No full textMany social welfare and social work students struggle to demonstrate competence in the complex process of critical reflection through to the stage of transformed thinking and action. Examples of how students learn critical reflection as an interpretive experience are scarce. This paper presents, as a case study, the process one of the authors experienced while critically reflecting on teaching critical reflection. The paper explores how this approach unlocked disturbing insights into how personally held values, views and knowledge influenced her performance relating to teaching critical reflection. Experiencing what she asks of her students raised questions regarding the duty of care that social welfare and social work educators have to ensure their students engage in critical, and transformative, self-discovery in safe and supportive ways. We propose that in the early stages of social welfare and social work degrees, rather than assessing students’ critical reflection of an event, educators examine students’ capacity to learn critical reflection in a different way. Drawing on critical hermeneutics, and a theory of visual thinking, the paper outlines the cognitive map of a process of critical reflection on teaching critical reflection. We present this as a metaphor of walking through a rainforest
Older adults who move to independent living units: a regional Australian study
No full textObjective: The purpose of this study was to ask older adults in a regional area of Australia how they made the decision to move into an independent living unit (ILU) within a three-tier residential complex that provides varying services and care to older adults.
Method: Focus groups were used to enable the gathering of rich data and to enable the voices of older adults. A deductive qualitative analysis (Gilgun, Qualitative research in social work, 2nd ed., pp. 107–135, 2013) was deployed using the factors for a successful later-life transition to an aged-care facility identified in the researchers’ earlier systematic review.
Results: Feelings of autonomy and control over the decision to move were important to all respondents. Any sense of loss of day-to-day autonomy, privacy and purpose, was compensated for by increased feelings of safety and security. Selected items brought from the old home to the new were a significant source of comfort.
Conclusions: This study provides the views and experiences of 19 older adults from regional Australia about moving into ILUs in a three-tier complex. The values and missions of the complex were important in the relocation decision-making. Further, if the choice is between living near friends or family, participants recommended choosing friends. The strategic choice of an ILU in a three-tier complex was seen as providing appropriate care into an unknown future. This study highlights the importance for older adults, their families and health-care professionals of making timely relocation decisions and the importance for older adults to retain autonomy and control over the relocation decision
Culture in multisensory computing: dividing the body for a digital future
No full textThis paper examines the ways in which computer science and a selection of multisensory digital devices modulate the term culture. Three self-identified, ‘cultural computing’ devices are examined: ZENetic, Alice’s Adventures and GRIOT’S Japanese Renku. The devices variously configure relationships between bodies and culture so that the body is thought to provide a window into particular cultures, as well as a universal tool of their transmission. These delineations of the term culture occur in continuity with surrounding political histories and projects, including racial and ethnic ones. Dividing the body between the extra cultural and the culturally specific works to secure the communicability as well as the exclusivity of cultural practices. It is an instance of what Merleau-Ponty terms a divergence, a gap within the body between two imbricated parts. In this way, these devices present culture as a source of innovation that combats global and abstracted computing practices
Interprofessional role boundaries in diabetes education in Australia
No full textDiabetes presents a challenge to healthcare services worldwide. Diabetes educators work with individuals and communities to reduce the impact of diabetes. In Australia, diabetes educators derive from one of several primary qualifications including nursing, medicine or a specified allied health background, and have an accredited postgraduate qualification in diabetes education. The peak professional body, the Australian Diabetes Educators Association (ADEA), promotes equivalence of all diabetes educators in terms of their scope of practice. However, in practice, there is evidence of inequities, particularly between those from nursing and allied health backgrounds. This paper uses a neo-Weberian lens to explore the interprofessional role dynamics of a ‘postprofessional’ group of practitioners, who adopt a common role and title to create a professional identity at postqualifying level. Data were collected via individual interviews with 19 stakeholders and analysed using an abductive template approach. Differential role boundaries between nurse and allied health diabetes educators were established and reinforced in several ways. Diabetes education is considered a sub-specialty of nursing only; access to education and credentialing has been restricted for allied health; reinforcement of professional stereotypes and perceived professional values; and perceived legislative differences in access to medication management for nurse and allied health diabetes educators
The mesh of playing, theorising and researching in the reality of climate change: creating the co-research playspace
No full textWorking towards ‘doing it better’: seeking the student voice in teacher education
No full textIn this article we report on the monitoring of pre-service teachers’ experiences of their course at a regional university in NSW, Australia. The intention of this research project was to engage with pre-service teachers to gauge their perceptions and their awareness of their developing teacher knowledge and skills. Our aim was to gather more comprehensive and meaningful data than that generated by standard, centrally administered, student evaluation surveys. Our research was conducted across four consecutive years to gather thirdand final (fourth) year students’ expectations for, and reflections on, their secondary education course. Drawing from the extant literature, and set against a context of shifting political agendas surrounding teacher education, the surveys were designed to capture the student voice. Key findings included the perceived need for increased behaviour management strategies, the inclusion of more ‘practical’ assessment tasks, and improved university-to-school transitions, including sustained professional learning agendas
A comparison of species specific sensitivities to changing light and carbonate chemistry in calcifying marine phytoplankton
No full textCoccolithophores are unicellular marine phytoplankton and important contributors to global carbon cycling. Most work on coccolithophore sensitivity to climate change has been on the small, abundant bloom-forming species Emiliania huxleyi and Gephyrocapsa oceanica. However, large coccolithophore species can be major contributors to coccolithophore community production even in low abundances. Here we fit an analytical equation, accounting for simultaneous changes in CO2 and light intensity, to rates of photosynthesis, calcification and growth in Scyphosphaera apsteinii. Comparison of responses to G. oceanica and E. huxleyirevealed S. apsteinii is a low-light adapted species and, in contrast, becomes more sensitive to changing environmental conditions when exposed to unfavourable CO2 or light. Additionally, all three species decreased their light requirement for optimal growth as CO2 levels increased. Our analysis suggests that this is driven by a drop in maximum rates and, in G. oceanica, increased substrate uptake efficiency. Increasing light intensity resulted in a higher proportion of muroliths (plate-shaped) to lopadoliths (vase shaped) and liths became richer in calcium carbonate as calcification rates increased. Light and CO2 driven changes in response sensitivity and maximum rates are likely to considerably alter coccolithophore community structure and productivity under future climate conditions