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Employment, capital market, and corporate policies
No full textOver the past decades, the global labor market has experienced significant restructuring, reflected by persistent mismatches between labor supply and demand. While prior accounting and finance literature has predominantly focused on the capital component of Cobb-Douglas production function, little attention has been paid to labor input. Yet human capital is a more dynamic and innovative production factor in modern corporate governance, playing a decisive role in firm success and, ultimately, in economic growth. As a “proactive resource” that can freely decide whether to join, stay, and contribute efforts, human capital should be strategically managed and effectively incentivized, making firms’ labor investment decisions a critical area of inquiry. Understanding how such decisions vary across contexts and the factors that shape them remain an open question. This thesis thus aims to extend the literature on the determinants of labor investment and the consequences of employee treatments by examining the effects of nationwide reforms and firms’ strategic adjustments in the Chinese setting, consisting of three empirical studies.Chapter 2 investigates the impact of stock market liberalization on firms’ labor investment decisions. Many countries have progressively liberalized their stock markets by removing restrictions on foreign equity investment and encouraging cross-border capital flows, which facilitates foreign investors’ participation and monitoring, mitigates financial constraints, and improves the information environment for domestic firms. Exploiting the Mainland-Hong Kong Stock Connect program as an exogenous shock and employing a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) approach with a sample of 1,938 Chinese listed firms from 2010 to 2020, this chapter shows that stock market liberalization enhances labor investment efficiency by correcting both under-investment and over-investment in labors. This main effect remains robust after addressing endogeneity concerns, using alternative samples and different proxies for labor investment efficiency, and the consideration of non-labor investments. Improved stock liquidity and a more transparent information environment thus enhanced external monitoring, are the two key channels driving these improvements. Cross-sectional analyses indicate that the effect is stronger for non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs). Taking a broad view of labor investments, I find that stock market liberalization also fosters more employee-friendly practices through better wages and welfare. Overall, chapter 2 underscores the significant role of nationwide financial reform in shaping firms’ labor investment decisions.Chapter 3 uncovers an underexplored relation between firm’s strategic employee-related decisions and cash management policy. Framing employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) as a mechanism for aligning the interests between employees and firms, this chapter investigates the impact of ESOPs on corporate cash holding. Exploiting the gradual adoption of ESOPs in China since 2014 as a quasi-natural experiment, this chapter shows that ESOPs adoption significantly reduces corporate cash holdings by generating incentive and signaling effects that mitigate precautionary motives and by enhancing internal governance to curb agency-driven motives for excessive cash retention. The negative effect is stronger among firms with fewer free-rider issues, greater rank-and-file employee participation, and longer employee stockholding durations. Furthermore, firms adopting ESOPs adjust their cash holdings more swiftly to optimal levels post-adoption, boosting cash’s market value. Chapter 3 highlights ESOPs’ distinctive role in aligning interests, contributing to the broader literature on employee incentive and corporate financial policies.Chapter 4 examines the role of artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in shaping labor investment efficiency in China. Featuring AI technology as a means of labor displacement and utilizing data from Chinese A-share listed firms from 2011 to 2021, I find that firms adopting AI technologies experience significant improvements in labor investment efficiency in the subsequent year, mainly by addressing labor over-investment issues, and achieve better innovation performance in terms of both quantity and quality of patents. Information asymmetry and corporate governance are two plausible channels through which AI adoption exerts influence, while financial constraints, labor skills, and industry competition moderate the effect. The results are robust when employing two-stage least square (2SLS) with instrumental variables, using alternative samples, adopting alternative variable definitions, and considering high-dimensional fixed effects. Chapter 4 highlights the labor-saving role of AI technology, contributes to the broader literature on the determinants of labor investment efficiency, and provides additional evidence on the firm-level impact of AI adoption.Overall, this thesis fits into the dynamics of the global labor market, drawing on the rapid development of China’s labor, capital, and technological markets, it offers additional evidence on factors that enhance labor investment efficiency and, consequently, improve firm performance. It also provides insights into the role of employee incentive plans in China in shaping corporate policies.</p
Environmental Factors and Preschoolers’ Outdoor Play and Sleep Duration in Low-, Middle- and High-Income Countries
No full textBackground: Participation in outdoor play and obtaining good quality sleep are essential for preschoolers’ healthy growth and development. Environmental threats such as poor weather, pollution, and concerns of safety are disproportionately experienced by young children, especially those who live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, there is little evidence of the influence of environmental factors upon preschoolers’ outdoor play and sleep behaviours. The overall aim of this thesis was to examine the associations between diverse environmental factors and preschoolers’ outdoor play and sleep behaviours within family and early childhood education care (ECEC) settings.Methods: This thesis is comprised of four studies and is presented across four chapters. Study 1 was a systematic review which examined the associations between post-natal pollution exposures, 24-hour movement behaviours and motor development outcomes among children aged birth to 12 years. Studies 2, 3 and 4 used cross-sectional data from the third phase of the SUNRISE International Study of Movement Behaviours in the Early Years Pilot Study. Study 2 examined the parental perceptions of environmental factors on preschoolers’ outdoor play and outdoor play spaces. Study 3 examined the parental perceptions of environmental factors on preschoolers’ sleep durations and sleep arrangements. Study 4 explored the associations between environmental factors, outdoor play and sleep behaviours in ECEC settings.Results: The systematic review identified 18 eligible studies, most of which were conducted in high-income countries (n=13). Studies measured outdoor air (n=7), indoor air (n=4), land (n=3), and noise pollution (n=4). Overall, findings were mixed and inconsistent. Motor development outcomes were the most frequently examined in relation to a pollution measure (n=12), followed by sleep (n =5) and physical activity and sedentary behaviour (n =1).Study 2 analysed parent questionnaire data, which examined outdoor play patterns from 1855 preschoolers across 19 countries (16 LMICs). Preschoolers’ outdoor play was associated with five environmental factors. On weekdays, heat (−25.6; 95% CI, −44.6, −6.6), cold (−26.9; 95% CI, −45.9, −8.4), and rain (−24.8; 95% CI, −43.3, −6.6) were negatively associated with outdoor play. For weekends, cold (−41.2; 95% CI, −62.4, −20.0) and social instability (−40.7; 95% CI, −61.5, −20.3) were negatively associated with outdoor play. For the spaces in which preschoolers play, seven associations were reported. Playing at friends’ or relatives’ homes (29.5 [95% CI, 18.6 to 40.5]; 37.9 [25.6 to 50.4]), greenspaces (23.1 [95% CI, 9.6 to 36.6]; 30.4 [95% CI, 15.1 to 45.8]), and on the street (41.4 [95% CI, 26.9 to 55.7]; 34.9 [95% CI, 18.2 to 51.3]) were associated with weekday and weekend day outdoor play, respectively. Playing on the family’s property was also associated with weekend day outdoor play (25.5 [95% CI, 18.2 to 51.3]). Study 3 analysed parent questionnaire data, which examined sleep durations and sleep arrangements among 2219 children from 23 countries (19 LMICs). There were significant differences between nighttime sleep (F=14.27, p=Study 4 analysed ECEC questionnaire data from 187 ECECs in 27 countries (22 LMICs). Forty-six percent (n=86) and 20% (n=37) of ECECs reported that at least one environmental factor prevented preschoolers’ outdoor play and disrupted naptime, respectively. Hot and cold temperatures, rain, and other factors were observed as barriers to outdoor play across regions and country income levels. Indoor noise, extreme temperatures, brightness and lack of space were reported as disrupting preschoolers’ naptime across regions and country income levels. For rural ECECs, hot temperatures and lack of space were barriers to outdoor play and napping, respectively.Conclusions: To the candidate’s knowledge, this PhD thesis comprises the first known research to examine the parental and educator perceptions of environmental factors that may influence preschoolers’ outdoor play behaviours and sleep patterns from diverse, international settings. Findings highlight that context-specific strategies are necessary to establish climate-resilient outdoor play spaces and comfortable sleeping environments to optimise opportunities for safe outdoor play and good quality sleep among preschoolers. It is recommended that future research be conducted on representative samples, particularly within LMICs to further evaluate the influence of different aspects of the environment of young children’s outdoor play and sleep patterns.</p
Psychophysiological Indices of Arousal in Mindfulness Meditation
No full textMindfulness meditation is widely recognised for its health benefits, yet the psychophysiological mechanisms underlying these benefits remain only partially understood. This thesis aimed to clarify these mechanisms by comprehensively examining both immediate (state) and long-term (trait) effects of mindfulness meditation, with a focus on neural activity measured by electroencephalography (EEG) and sympathetic arousal assessed via skin conductance level (SCL). Five empirical studies systematically investigated arousal and attention mechanisms in novice meditators, utilising both traditional EEG analyses and innovative data-driven methodologies.Study 1 investigated state and trait changes in alpha amplitude and SCL, comparing mindfulness meditation to an active control condition (classical music listening), an approach that, while uncommon in mindfulness research, is crucial for isolating specific meditation-related effects. Results showed reductions in alpha amplitude independent of sympathetic arousal, suggesting enhanced attention rather than altered arousal during mindfulness meditation. Study 2 extended this investigation across all traditional EEG frequency bands, revealing significant trait-related changes in global alpha and beta amplitude after six weeks of daily practice, along with emerging theta changes linked to attention and awareness.Due to disruptions caused by COVID-19, the subsequent studies in this thesis shifted focus to the immediate (state) effects of mindfulness meditation, with particular emphasis on breath regulation. Study 3 compared paced breathing with mindfulness meditation, revealing widespread EEG changes across all frequency bands and contrasting effects on sympathetic arousal. Building on these findings, Study 4 combined paced breathing with mindfulness meditation and compared it to mindfulness meditation with spontaneous breathing. This comparison demonstrated that deliberate breath control during meditation produces interacting effects on global theta, alpha, and beta amplitude, along with SCL.Study 5 employed a data-driven EEG analysis method and directly compared it with the traditional approach using fixed frequency bands, as in prior studies. This innovative method revealed several novel findings, most notably a complex delta-theta-alpha component that increased significantly during meditation, reflecting a meaningful neural change that traditional analyses cannot capture.Collectively, these findings advance our understanding of the psychophysiological mechanisms underlying mindfulness meditation. While this thesis thoroughly examined the role of arousal, the observed neural and autonomic changes were not primarily driven by sympathetic activity. Instead, they appear to reflect attentional processes that are engaged during mindfulness meditation. These results reinforce the view that mindfulness meditation fosters a state of relaxed alertness, characterised by sustained attention and heightened awareness. They align with theoretical models that conceptualise mindfulness as an active, dynamic cognitive process and help explain its broad applications in health, education, and clinical practice. Future research should continue to investigate how attention, arousal, and breathing each contribute to the cognitive and physiological benefits of mindfulness meditation.</p
Electrophysiology of in vitro neuronal and skeletal myotube culture models using microelectrode arrays
No full textTechnological advances have transformed motorised prosthetics, enhancing their functionality using myoelectric techniques. Nonetheless, advanced myoelectric prosthetic technology still encounters limitations of signal resolution due to loss of signal discrimination through layers of subcutaneous fat and skin. Various tissue-electrode interfacing prosthetic systems have been investigated to decrease signal loss. Brain-interface prosthetics reduce the effects of limited signal resolution, however, they are disadvantaged through the requirement of invasive surgeries and the foreign body response, limiting their potential as new-age prosthetic systems. Significant research is still required to support advancements in technology that allow for direct signal processing and translation of neural input from motor neurons to implanted microelectrode arrays while also preventing premature device failure and inhibiting the foreign body response. Investigations of targeted re-innervation of truncated motor neurons connected to a layer of skeletal muscle on microelectrode arrays (MEAs) had combined multidisciplinary technology to support early stage methods towards the development of new-age neural interfacing prosthetic devices. Additionally, another early target for the development of implantable MEAs for prosthetic interfaces is the production of translational 2D in vitro cell culture models that mimic the same process of targeted re-innervation of neurons to muscle cells on MEAs. The milestone of this project in support of development of implantable MEAs for prosthetic interfaces was through development of complex in vitro functional neuron-skeletal muscle cultures that exhibited multi-innervated neuronal control of myotubes. As such, in order to achieve the milestone, cell culture studies were performed on each cell type to acquire baseline electrophysiology measurements prior to the integration of the cells into complex multiculture systems.MEA recordings of the electrophysiological activity of primary skeletal myotubes of C57BL/6 mice were recorded until delamination occurred. The myotubes exhibited regular individual spikes of extracellular activity during spontaneous periods of activity and periods of electrical stimulation. A selection of neural cells were assessed for motor neuron-like phenotypes and capability to exhibit spontaneous electrophysiological activity on MEAs. Immortalised neural cell lines provided a cheap and easy to use range of cells as the motor neuron-like model for the multiinnervated cultures. However, the lack of spontaneous extracellular activity on MEAs and nonresponsive characteristics to electrical stimulation resulted in the cells being an inadequate neuronal model. As an alternative, a new neuronal cell type was investigated. Human induced pluripotent stem cells into NGN2 induced neuron-astrocyte cocultures exhibited bursts of spontaneous extracellular activity on MEAs after at least four weeks of differentiation. Additionally, the cultures were very responsive to electrical stimulation, indicating that they could be a good candidate for use in multi-innervated culture studies. To support the development of multi-innervated culture studies, custom designed multicompartment devices were produced using 3D printing of biocompatible materials that were attached to MEAs. The limiting factor that prevented long-term culture studies using 3D printed multicompartment devices was the degradation of the biocompatible adhesive between the 3D printed material and MEA substrates. To work around the adhesion issue, alternative production techniques were required that produced custom designed multicompartment structures and custom designed MEAs as a single device.This thesis provided the foundational steps towards development of implantable MEAs for prosthetic interfaces, however, the milestone of development of complex 2D in vitro multiinnervated cultures was not achieved. The output required to achieve the milestone was more significant than initially expected in a doctoral thesis. Nonetheless, a considerable degree of multidisciplinary research was conducted throughout the thesis to support the progression of prosthesis technology. To reach the target milestone, further optimisation of the multicompartment device on MEAs or an alternate production technique was required to be used to allow long-term electrophysiology studies of multi-innervated cultures to be performed.</p
Intoxication Evidence and the Rewriting of Sexual Assault: A Study of New South Wales Trials
No full textThis thesis examines the nature and impact of intoxication evidence in sexual assault trials in New South Wales (‘NSW’). Victim and/or perpetrator intoxication is a feature of a high proportion of sexual assaults and tends to be associated with higher attrition and lower conviction rates. Legislative reforms in NSW have sought to facilitate the prosecution of intoxication-involved sexual assault by disrupting ‘rape myth’-based reasoning that a complainant’s intoxication implies her consent, and an accused’s intoxication lessens his culpability. Through a close analysis of transcripts from 30 sexual assault trials heard in the District Court of NSW between 2014 and 2019, this thesis traces the myriad ways in which intoxication evidence is drawn upon in sexual assault trials and the extent to which legislative provisions relating to intoxication are shaping trial practice in NSW. My analysis finds that legislative provisions relating to intoxication were of limited impact and that, more commonly, intoxication evidence was drawn upon for purposes that sit in direct tension with the legislative scheme. The Crown seldom relied upon complainants’ intoxication as a basis for their non-consent, whereas defence counsel relied heavily upon intoxication evidence to advance their case in multiple – often contradictory – ways.Drawing upon feminist insights on the gendered underpinnings of sexual assault law, my analysis of these uses of intoxication evidence reveals powerful interactions between rape myth-based reasoning and contestable assumptions about the effects of alcohol and other drugs. Poorly evidenced claims about the effects of intoxicants on memory and sexual behaviour facilitated the wholesale denial of complainants’ competence to speak to their own experiences and their sexual will, and the stark rewriting of their accounts of victimisation as narratives of active and enthusiastic participation. A systematic analysis of the strategies employed to achieve this rewriting found that intoxication both enhanced the efficacy of tools within the ‘classic’ defence repertoire, as well as providing an additional suite of intoxication-specific tools for silencing and discrediting complainants. Intoxication aided in classic rape myth-based attacks on complainants’ accounts – for example, scrutinising their ‘failure’ to demonstrate rape-preventing behaviour, lack of resistance, and inability to demonstrate perfect recall. At the same time, intoxication was also used to advance wholly contradictory narratives of complainants’ active sexual instigation. The diversity of the arguments for which intoxication evidence was engaged, and the extent to which they diverged from straightforward appeals to classic rape myths, highlights the complexity of formulating legislative reforms that will meaningfully improve the prosecution of intoxication-involved sexual assault.</p
An Investigation of Factors that Impact Safety Culture and Safety Behaviour in a High-Risk Construction Organisation
No full textThis project investigated factors impacting safety culture and safety behaviour in a construction organisation through a multi-stage mixed methods approach. The construction sector in Australia is a high-risk industry that accounts for a significant incidence of injuries and fatalities. The project was undertaken in a foundation-specialised construction organisation facing allegations from SafeWork New South Wales (NSW) of safety breaches. The organisation proposed an ‘Enforceable Undertaking’ as an alternative to prosecution, which included a 24-month research project investigating factors that impact safety culture and safety behaviour in the construction industry. In Stage 1 (Study 1) an anonymous online and hard copy survey was administered to employees at all levels of the organisation to explore their perceptions and attitudes towards safety culture and safety behaviour (n=45). Findings suggested that enhancement of leadership involvement, the improvement of communication approaches, and the tailored application of interventions, could potentially facilitate a stronger safety culture and improve safety behaviours. Survey participants were invited to participate in Stage 2 (Study 2) which involved individual interviews exploring workers' perceptions and attitudes towards safety culture and safety behaviour in the construction industry and in their organisation. Interviews (n=12) with a range of employees (frontline workers, frontline supervisors, and senior management) found that consultation, time and financial constraints, administrative tasks, and training requirements are interconnected factors crucial for shaping safety and operational efficiency in construction projects. Findings from Stage 1 (Study 1) and Stage 2 (Study 2) were synthesised to provide specific recommendations to the organisation and to the construction industry more broadly. A key finding from this project was that consultation between construction project stakeholders (e.g. Tier 1 PCBU and Tier 2 Subcontractors) is an organisational factor that impacts safety culture and safety behaviour in the construction industry.</p
Many-Time Linkable Ring Signatures
No full textLinkable ring signatures (Liu et al., ACISP’04) is a ring signature scheme with a linking mechanism for detecting signatures from the same signer. This functionality has found many practical applications in electronic voting, cryptocurrencies, and whistleblowing systems. However, existing linkable ring signature schemes impose a fundamental limitation: users can issue only one signature, and after that their anonymity is not guaranteed. This limited number of usage is inadequate for many real-world scenarios.This work introduces the notion of Many-time Linkable Ring Signatures, extending the anonymity guarantees of standard linkable ring signatures. Specifically, many-time linkable ring signatures ensure that signers remain anonymous as long as the number of their signatures is smaller than a system-global threshold. Only when a signer exceeds this threshold the anonymity is lost. We formalize this via a security notion called T-anonymity, which guarantees that adversaries cannot distinguish signatures from users who have each produced at most T signatures. This new notion of anonymity generalizes one-time anonymity in previous linkable schemes, while providing stronger guarantees than existing constructions. We also present a lattice-based construction with proven security in the quantum random oracle model (QROM).</p
Investigation of Quantitative MRI Radiomics Techniques for Glioblastoma
No full textGlioblastoma is a primary brain cancer characterised by a high degree of both intra- and inter-tumoural heterogeneity. Despite significant effort, oncological therapies have not led to improvements in survival outcomes. Current treatment regimens do not address physiological heterogeneity either within or between different tumours. Treatment adaptations for Glioblastoma should consider physiological heterogeneity both within and between tumours.Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is used routinely for diagnosis, treatment planning and response assessment of Glioblastoma. MRI is valued for its high contrast soft tissue images and physiological imaging capabilities. Quantitative MRI (qMRI) is a group of MRI techniques that measure physiological quantities in tissue. qMRI is potentially valuable as a prognostic tool for Glioblastoma as it may allow measurements of physiological tumour properties. Perfusion weighted imaging (PWI) and Diffusion Weighted Imaging (DWI) are two forms of qMRI that have shown utility in prognostication of Glioblastoma patients. Radiomics is a rapidly emerging field of research that utilizes many quantitative imaging features related to the shape, intensity, and texture of radiological images. The underlying hypothesis of radiomics is that these radiomic features are indicative of physiological properties of tissue and can be used as imaging biomarkers. Radiomics has a natural synergy with qMRI as both techniques investigate physiological tissue properties using imaging.The work presented in this thesis investigated the development of a quantitative MRI radiomics model for outcome prediction in Glioblastoma, focussing on radiomic features derived from Dynamic Contrast Enhanced (DCE) and Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) MR images. The process of developing a prognostic radiomics model for clinical use was investigated through the repeatability of qMRI radiomics features, the robustness of machine learning techniques for multicentre radiomics survival classification models and the utility of implementing serial qMRI into radiomics survival classification models.Chapter 3 covers an investigation of the repeatability of radiomic features derived from qMRI of Glioblastoma. The impact of feature class and image standardisation on radiomic feature repeatability for features derived from multiple qMRI techniques was assessed. In this study it was found that among features derived from non standardised ADC images, the features in each feature class had a high mean ICC (>0.85). No standardisation method significantly improved the repeatability of either first or second order radiomic features derived from ADC images. In non standardised DCE images (CBV, Ktrans, Ve and Kep) shape features were the most repeatable, followed by second order features then by first order features. Intensity normalisation helped to improve the repeatability of first order features derived from DCE parametric maps, however, the method that was most effective at improving their repeatability varied by image type and patient cohort.In chapter 4 the relative efficacy of feature selection and machine learning methods for developing a Glioblastoma survival classification model were assessed. Radiomics survival classification models trained using publicly available data were developed using varying machine learning techniques and then tested on similar data acquired from other public datasets. The impact of feature selection techniques, machine learning model and number of features on model transferability was investigated. Feature repeatability filtering followed by recursive feature elimination was found to be a robust method of feature selection. Increasing the number of features beyond 20 features did not produce a consistent improvement in the performance of models within the training set and reduced their performance within the test datasets. Random Forest had the best performance of the tested machine learning classification algorithms in both the training and test datasets.In chapter 5 the relative utility of longitudinal serial MRI radiomics as markers of treatment response was assessed. qMRI of 12 patients with newly diagnosed Glioblastoma were acquired throughout the six week course of chemo-radiation therapy at radiotherapy simulation, mid radiotherapy and end of radiotherapy. Radiomic and delta-radiomic features were computed. For a given machine learning classification algorithm, the accuracy of follow up 2 models was the highest, followed by follow up 1 models and then the baseline models. The follow up 2 models showed near perfect classification accuracy and selected only delta radiomic features. The small size of the patient cohort limits the statistical confidence of these findings. The high performance of models developed using delta-radiomic features suggests that these features contain valuable information, investigation on an expanded dataset is needed to validate the results of this study.</p
Exploring Semiosis in Australian Tertiary Students’ Digital Representations of Science within a Systemic Functional Semiotic Framework
No full textThe fundamental concern of this thesis is multimodal semiosis in the pedagogical context of tertiary science education. Specifically, the study explores the construal of meaning in student-made digital multimedia in two subjects, pharmacology and pre-service science teacher education, that reflect the growing breadth of their use in both specialised and generalist areas of tertiary science education in Australia. Such assessment tasks represent a relatively recent addition to the array of assessments employed in tertiary science education. Consequently, the understanding of their semiotic potential, functionality, and capacity for building and communicating scientific knowledge is only in its infancy. Therefore, the exploratory work of this thesis aims to better understand how student-made digital multimedia function to convey scientific knowledge to specific audiences.The assessment artefacts examined in this study are dynamic standalone presentations [DSPs], a multimodal format that enables students to integrate a wide range of semiotic modes and mechanisms to communicate scientific meanings. Although theoretical work on dynamic digital media in science education is limited, analytical approaches developed in the field of multimodality have proven effective in exploring various complex media artefacts. To understand the communicative potential of the DSPs, this thesis employs a Systemic Functional Semiotics approach (Bateman et al., 2017; Halliday, 1978; Martin, 2006; O’Halloran, 2008) to multimodality. Explicitly concerned with the construal of meaning in context, this approach provides a theoretically robust and fine-grained characterisation of the communicative functions that these artefacts serve in the context of science education. Such careful exploration of the artefacts’ communicative affordances is essential for makers, educators, and researchers to engage with them productively in both practice and theory.The semiotic analysis is complemented by a discussion of student-makers’ accounts of producing their DSPs. Thematic analysis of interview data is utilised to explore students’ production of their artefacts and to probe their understanding of the communicative possibilities afforded by dynamic multimedia. Specifically, students’ responses are interrogated to identify factors that have shaped their semiotic choices regarding the semiotic technologies used and the semiotic resources selected.The multimodal understandings developed in this thesis have important pedagogical implications. Given that these artefacts are used for assessment purposes, there is a pedagogic imperative to consider how students can be best supported in communicating scientific meanings through novel forms. This research addresses this need by articulating ‘what counts’ in such artefacts, clarifying how particular communicative purposes can be achieved, and revealing the consequences of particular expressive choices. Such understandings are essential for instructors to be able to effectively scaffold makers’ production processes, to support the development of students’ multimodal literacy in science and contribute to the rigorous evaluation of the effectiveness of dynamic multimodal phenomena in science education.</p
Creating space for reflection in dialogical family therapy: Exploring therapist practices and client responses in Reflecting Teams
No full textThe practice of reflecting teams, developed by Tom Andersen and first described in 1987, paved the way for a significant shift in family therapy practice. The choice to invite family members to observe the discussion between professionals symbolised a movement from observed to observing. This allowed family members to notice what resonated for them, and to decide what should be explored further. Beyond simply switching places, this approach also meant considering ways in which the family’s concern could be viewed from different perspectives and the voices of all in the meeting could be heard. Within the past 20 years innovative family and network-based models incorporating reflecting teams, such as Open Dialogue, have emerged showing great promise in crisis and severe mental health treatment settings. These collaborative and dialogical approaches have been appreciated by both professionals and family members, with largely naturalistic studies exploring alliance, helpfulness, and reductions in duration of untreated psychosis and ongoing disability. Despite growing literature in reflecting team and dialogical therapies, very few studies have focused on essential practice elements and psychotherapy process. This project aimed to explore processes in reflecting team dialogues from an intersubjective standpoint and to consider reflection as mutual transformation occurring between members of the network meeting.Study 1 is a qualitative study that explored the implementation of Open Dialogue into an Australian Child and Adolescent mental health service. Interpretative Phenomenological analysis (IPA) of 16 semi-structured interviews with professionals and family members was completed. Emergent themes indicated that staff appreciated authenticity and flexibility, and service users valued transparency and openness. One young person noted that the conversation between the reflecting team “made me think about it [what her mother had said] in another way, kind of..rethink what she meant” (see Chapter 3). Drawing on this reflecting process as a focus, this thesis sought to contribute to the understanding of how approaches with a reflecting team support both professionals and family members to reflect on the experiences of themselves and others. Study 2 explored the way in which dialogical therapists conceptualise and create reflective conversations in network meetings. This study involved interviews with twelve Open Dialogue therapists who were asked to describe the practices through which they facilitate relational reflection (Chapter 4). Using IPA again, themes centred on the value therapists placed on family members expertise, noticing their own responses in the meetings, and how they chose what to share in team reflections. They also noted relationally responsive practices, curiosity and the intention of opening space for further talk. This study offered insights into Open Dialogue therapists’ practices and experiences during reflecting team conversations. To understand further how reflective processes unfold between network meeting participants, gathering data ‘in-situ’ during reflecting team meetings was considered essential. Prior to collecting in-session data, methodological and theoretical aspects of psychotherapy process research relating to reflection required exploration.Study 3 involved a scoping review (Chapter 5) that critically reviewed the variety of constructs associated with reflection in psychotherapy process research. This review illuminated the differences between systemic understandings of reflective processes as intersubjective, and the more dominant individualist paradigm which emphasises reflection as an individual ability (e.g. mentalization, metacognition). Many of the studies reviewed did not report expected findings using individualist frameworks and critiques of client reflection as individualised were noted. Studies in this review that took an intersubjective or systemic lens tended to adopt qualitative or linguistic methods to capture reflective processes. In Study 4, theoretical aspects of understanding psychotherapy process as dialogical and interconnected were described (Chapter 6). The work of Henri Bergson, a philosopher of science who saw change as continuing interpenetrative moments rather than fixed states, was drawn upon to consider an appropriate theoretical perspective and methodology for observing reflection in psychotherapy process research.One of these methodologies is Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). SFL is a social semiotic theory of language that was chosen as the method for reviewing transcripts of reflecting team conversations in the final two studies. In study 5 (chapter 7) SFL was applied to transcripts from a 6-session family therapist reflective team supervision group involving six family therapists. SFL analysis of expressions from reflecting team members and supervisees found the use of epistemic modality and heterogloss supported a collaborative stance in the dialogue. Further, supervisees often responded by reflecting on their own position in relation to the problem and being curious about others’ positions. Study 6 developed and tested a refined SFL method to explore reflecting team dialogues and family members’ responses during Open Dialogue meetings. Ten families participated in this study with 14 hours of sessions time transcribed. SFL analysis was conducted on segments of text during and immediately following the team reflection. This study identified the use of physical, spatial, or landscape related metaphors for reflective or relational aspects of experience. For participants of reflecting teams, this appeared to support a fresh view on the problem and a sense of agency or power over it.While there are limitations to the qualitative, small sample size studies included in this process-oriented thesis, this work contributes to the literature on the dialogical and reflecting team therapies by providing insights into effectiveness, and an exploration of therapist practices and family member responses. These process- level insights may inform future outcome studies and training resources and provide support for professionals training in models such as Open Dialogue.</p