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Refugees, Family Dynamics, and Resilience: Integrating Systemic Disruptions and Individual Coping Mechanisms
No full textMigration reshapes family dynamics, emotional well-being, and identity negotiation, disrupting caregiving structures, communication patterns, and intergenerational relationships. This study examines how refugees and their families navigate these systemic disruptions and employ coping mechanisms to foster resilience. Drawing on Family Systems Theory and Stress and Coping Theory, this research integrates macro- and micro-level perspectives to analyze migration as both a structural force affecting family units and an individual psychological challenge. Using a qualitative approach, the findings reveal how physical separation, caregiving reconfigurations, and intergenerational tensions redefine familial roles and emotional bonds. Refugees employ cultural frame switching, bilingual adaptation, and identity negotiation strategies to balance heritage preservation with host culture integration. Community support networks and emotional resilience emerge as critical factors in mitigating migration-induced stress. This study extends traditional models such as Berry’s acculturation framework and transnational family theories by emphasizing the interplay between systemic family disruptions and personal adaptation processes. The findings contribute to family research by bridging systemic and individual responses, offering policy implications for expediting family reunification, developing culturally responsive mental health services, and designing intergenerational integration programs. This study underscores the need for holistic, family-centered migration policies and support systems to enhance refugee family well-being and long-term resilience.</p
Development of Light Alloys and Their Applications
No full textMagnesium, aluminium and titanium are commonly classified as light alloys because of their high strength-to-weight and/or stiffness-to-weight ratios. Owing to these properties, light alloys have attracted considerable commercial and industrial interest. Among them, aluminium alloys are the most widely used, finding extensive applications not only in the automotive and aerospace sectors but also in everyday products such as packaging cans and foils. In recent years, titanium and magnesium alloys have also seen increasing utilisation. Titanium alloys are predominantly employed in the aerospace industry due to their low density combined with excellent mechanical strength, particularly at elevated temperatures. In addition, their outstanding corrosion resistance makes them suitable for demanding environments, including marine and petrochemical applications. Magnesium alloys, on the other hand, are preferred when further weight reduction is critical, such as in aircraft components, material-handling equipment and portable power tools.</p
The Influence of Digital Technology Engagement on Academic Performance in Undergraduate Students in Saudi Arabia
No full textThis thesis examines the influence of digital technology on student engagement and academic performance among undergraduate students in Saudi Arabia. Recognising the importance of digital transformation in education, this research addresses significant gaps in understanding how digital technologies affect educational outcomes broadly within Saudi higher education institutions.
Employing a positivist paradigm and a quantitative research approach, this study utilises the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) framework. It evaluates the impact of seven key constructs, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, habit, and learning value, on student engagement and subsequently assesses the direct relationship between student engagement and academic performance. Data was collected via questionnaires from a diverse sample of 527 undergraduate students across six Saudi public universities, and subsequently analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM).
The findings indicate that performance expectancy, hedonic motivation, social influence, facilitating conditions, and learning value significantly enhance student engagement, which positively influences academic performance. Theoretically, this research extends the UTAUT2 model by incorporating academic performance as a critical outcome variable, offering original and nuanced insights specific to the Saudi educational context. Practically, the results provide valuable guidance for educators and policymakers aiming to utilise digital technologies effectively to boost student engagement and academic achievement.
This study acknowledges limitations, including its cross-sectional design and reliance on self-reported data, which may limit external validity. However, the originality and value of this research lie in its pioneering application of the UTAUT2 framework within the unique socio-cultural and educational landscape of Saudi Arabia. This research provides foundational insights to inform strategic and operational educational reforms in Saudi Arabia and other similar regional contexts.</p
Museum Dust
No full textMuseum Dust was a practice-led investigation into how public typography departs from specification and might accrue meaning through use, maintenance and error. Drawing on longitudinal photographic documentation (c. 2016 – 2024) of stencil letterforms spelling “IAN POTTER SCULPTURE COURT” affixed to courtyard grates at MUMA, the project analysed the sign's recurrent repositioning and deforming as dispersed “field typesetting” and distributed authorship across human and non-human agents. This record was translated into the research artefact Museum Dust Regular – a working font reconstructed strictly from the original stencil pieces under observed constraints and mapped to two uppercase alphabets – accompanied by a book situating the font within the photographic record and analysis. The project preserves a site-specific visual grammar and demonstrates how identity design can be studied as an evolving, situated system rather than as fixed standards.</p
Tuning the Electromechanical Performance of Knitted Strain Sensors through Stitch Variation
No full textKnitted fabrics are a promising platform for wearable strain sensors owing to their flexibility, stretchability, and comfort. However, the influence of stitch variation on the sensing performance has not been systematically investigated. This study explores plain jersey, cross-tuck, and cross-miss structures knitted from composite elastomeric yarns to tailor stitch and performance relationships. Structural analysis revealed that stitch types strongly affect areal density, loop geometry, and initial electrical resistance. Mechanical testing showed that plain jersey structures required a higher force to deform, while cross-tuck and cross-miss provided greater extensibility. Electromechanical evaluation demonstrated distinct responses: plain jersey exhibited the highest sensitivity at low strains but became unstable beyond 30%; cross-tuck offered consistent sensing up to 40% strain; and cross-miss maintained stable, reversible signals up to 60% strain with low hysteresis. Wearable trials validated these trends, identifying plain jersey as optimal for wrist motion, a cross-tuck for elbow bending, and a cross-miss for knee movement. These results highlight stitch engineering as an effective design strategy to tailor knitted strain sensors for application-specific wearable electronics.</p
Exploring undiscovered country: AI-empowered collective and collaborative epistemic reflexivity (i-CCER)
No full textThis paper introduces AI-empowered Collaborative and Collective Epistemic Reflexivity (i-CCER), a novel approach to knowledge production developed through sustained engagement with generative AI as an epistemic partner. Moving beyond human-centric approaches, i-CCER positions reflexivity as a distributed, posthuman practice emerging through co-creative human-AI collaboration. We demonstrate how AI actively shapes knowledge by surfacing hidden meanings, synthesising complex team reflections, iterating emerging insights, and engaging in meta-awareness through its own reflexive capabilities. Drawing on literature addressing collective reflexivity, epistemic justice, and posthuman ethics, we address critiques of proceduralism, epistemic reduction, and the illusion of AI fluency. We present i-CCER as both a methodological innovation and a feminist, decolonial intervention challenging dominant knowledge production practices. While AI can catalyse new inquiries, it cannot replace ethical, situated, accountable reflexive practice. This paper is both a demonstration and a provocation: a case study of i-CCER and a call for a more pluralist, participatory meta-epistemology.</p
Date Label and Storage Advice Design System and Toolkit: Commercialisation Pitch
No full textBackgroundThis work explores communication design practice—specifically visual semiotics and design systems—applied to food packaging and consumer behaviour. It engages with a scholarly debate within packaging design research about how visual communication influences everyday decisions, especially regarding food waste. The National Date Labelling and Storage Advice project highlights the knowledge gap regarding label confusion and food disposal behaviours, and promotes standardised visual systems to address complex public issues through systemic design. The narrow field focuses on visual design interventions in sustainability contexts, drawing on work by sustainability-oriented design practitioners and food systems researchers. The creative project responds to a well-documented problem: confusing date labels lead Australian households to discard edible food, contributing to 40% of the country's food waste and resulting in an annual economic loss of $36.6 billion.Contribution Date Labelling and Storage Advice Design System and Toolkit is a comprehensive design system comprising icons, typography, colour, and templates that standardise visual communication of food freshness, safety, and storage. As a designer and researcher, I developed this toolkit through evidence-based inquiry into consumer understanding of packaging information. The research component embedded in this creative work involves visual semiotics analysis and systems design methodology. The toolkit manifests new knowledge by translating research findings into practical design artefacts that support intuitive consumer decision-making. It contributes by connecting food systems knowledge with communication design practice, creating a replicable, scalable solution suitable for manufacturers, retailers, not-for-profits, and regulatory bodies.Significance This work demonstrates importance through validation across multiple sectors and institutional backing. Funding includes the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centre Program via End Food Waste Australia, along with state-level support (Queensland Recycling and Jobs Fund, Green Industries SA, NSW EPA, Sustainability Victoria). The project is part of PhD research at RMIT University under the supervision of Prof Linda Brennan, Prof Robert Crawford, and Prof Simon Lockrey. Commercial viability across six stakeholder sectors (manufacturers, retailers, NFPs, government, education, and consumers) demonstrates peer recognition of its practical value. The phased commercialisation plan shows dedication to thorough testing and validation before wider implementation, positioning this work to influence national food labelling standards.</p
Nurses’ experiences of providing oral care to hospitalised patients: A qualitative study
No full textBACKGROUND: Oral care has a critical role in hospital-acquired infection prevention, is part of fundamental nursing care, yet is poorly undertaken in hospital. The study's aim was to understand Australian nurses' perceptions of their role in oral care and their experience providing oral care in hospital, with the focus on enablers and barriers. METHODS: A qualitative exploratory descriptive design. Seven registered nurses working in acute adult in-patient hospitals in Australia participated in three semi-structured focus groups in October and November 2023. Data analysis followed thematic analysis procedures. The study is reported using Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research. RESULTS: Three themes were identified: nurses' perceptions of their role in oral care; barriers to providing oral care for hospitalised patients; and enablers to providing oral care for hospitalised patients. Nurses' experiences revealed expectations for different clinical settings. In the intensive care unit where patients required mechanical ventilation, oral care was inextricably linked to that care. In palliative care or oncology units, oral care was intrinsically linked to holistic care. Reported challenges include time and staffing constraints; limited resources; nurses' limited knowledge about the importance of oral care, and patient-related factors. Opportunities to promote oral care include empowering patients and educating nurses about the importance of oral care to health. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses have a pivotal role in oral care and it is important that this is part of patient care in hospital. The findings will inform a comprehensive co-design process to develop an intervention to be examined in a multi-centre randomised control trial.</p
Ger van Elk
No full textResearch background Published in Le Journal de l’Université d’été de la Bibliothèque Kandinsky, no. 5 (2019), the volume arising from the 2018 Summer University, “Publications d’artistes: de l’atelier à la bibliothèque (et vice‑versa)”. The Journal is an ISSN‑registered serial published by the Kandinsky Library, the research centre of the Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris.Research contribution The chapter examines the conditions around writing about a monograph that the author made about artist collective Open Spatial Workshop. The book in question, In One Hundred Thousand Yearw is a critical examination of the expectations and affordances of traditional artistic monographs and how they might be upended. The book's production followed a 'parallel' research trajectory and determined to comprehensively show OSW's practice without recourse to the photography of any final artworks by the group. The publication is concurrently an artist's book by Adam Cruickshank.Research significance Issued by a major European museum library and distributed via After 8 Books, issue 5 is a substantial, ~500‑page volume gathering international contributors; the Journal has ISSN 2427‑4119, with earlier and later issues documented by the BnF and the ISSN Portal. Publication in this context evidences peer selection and review, international reach, and a durable bibliographic trace.</p
Navigating the Storm: A Qualitative Metaphor-Based Analysis of Resilience and Identity Reconstruction Among Displaced Professionals
No full textBuilding on previous management scholarship, this paper explains how Conceptual Metaphor Theory
(CMT) and metaphorical expressions inform organizational resilience and leadership communication in
employee support strategies. It tries to capture the interplay between personal sensemaking and
collective adaptation. The study aims to provide practitioners with hands-on insights into developing
inclusion, resilience, and identity reconstruction in organizational and societal contexts of disruption. The
analysis identifies three critical metaphorical themes: resilience, which is likened to "climbing a
mountain;" isolation, which is likened to being "trapped in a bubble;" and identity reconstruction, which is
likened to "picking up the shattered pieces of a pot." These findings demonstrate how metaphors can
serve as effective cognitive and emotional tools for navigating uncertainty, rebuilding professional
identities, and adapting to disrupted environments. Building on previous management scholarship, this
paper explains how metaphorical expressions inform organizational resilience and leadership
communication in employee support strategies. It tries to capture the interplay between personal
sensemaking and collective adaptation. The study aims to provide practitioners with hands-on insights
into developing inclusion, resilience, and identity reconstruction in organizational and societal contexts of
disruption.</p