7440 research outputs found
Sort by
My changed body: breast cancer, body image, distress and self-compassion
No full textThesis by publication.Bibliography: pages 221-252.Part One. Background and review of relevant literature. Chapter One. Breast cancer and body image ; Chapter Two. Self-compassion ; Chapter Three. Therapeutic writing and research development -- Part Two. Empirical studies of self-compassion in breast cancer survivors. Chapter Four. Empirical study I ; Chapter Five. Empirical study II ; Chapter Six. Empirical study III ; Chapter Seven. Empirical study IV ; Chapter Eight. Overview and closing comments -- References -- Appendices.Negative alteration to a woman’s body image is a common consequence of breast cancer diagnosis, associated medical intervention and treatment side-effects. Despite the inevitable occurrence of adverse side-effects and the distress it causes for some women, body image difficulties for a subset of breast cancer survivors are not always adequately addressed. Self-compassion is a novel psychological approach that has been used in non-oncology contexts to assist with distress and body image disturbance. However, such an approach has not been applied to difficulties experienced by breast cancer survivors, and hence constitutes a gap in the psycho-oncology research literature.The overall aim of this thesis was to explore the utilization of a self-compassion-based intervention to address body image disturbance in this population, using a series of four studies. An initial cross-sectional exploratory study (Study I) investigated the relevance of self-compassionate approaches to body image and its possible relationship to psychological distress. It was found that self-compassion was a significant factor in the relationship between body image disturbance and subsequent psychological distress in breast cancer survivors, with evidence of self-compassion acting as a mediator of this relationship. A proof-of-concept pilot study (Study II) was then undertaken to investigate the acceptability and feasibility of a self-compassion focused writing activity to assist with body image difficulties in breast cancer survivors, the “My Changed Body” intervention. It was demonstrated that self-compassionate writing produced immediate reduction in negative affect and enhancement in self-compassionate outlook, compared with individuals in the expressive writing only control group. Given the promising outcomes from this research, a third study (Study III) was undertaken to investigate the potential acceptability of an online version of the My Changed Body self-compassion based writing intervention amongst breast cancer consumers and breast cancer-related health professionals. This development study indicated moderate to high acceptability for an online self-compassion based writing intervention. The final study (Study IV) investigated, in a randomised controlled trial, the effectiveness of the online self-compassion writing intervention on negative affect and self-compassion. A total of 206 breast cancer survivors were randomized to receive either the self-compassion online intervention or an active control condition (i.e., unstructured expressive writing). It was found that women assigned to the structured self-compassion writing intervention exhibited significant less negative affect, particularly for younger women. Moreover, older women receiving the My Changed Body intervention had a significant enhancement of self-compassion.In sum, the findings from this thesis have important implications for researchers, health professionals and breast cancer survivors. This research has been the first to investigate and apply self-compassion as a possible intervention for adverse body image changes in breast cancer, hence addressing a current knowledge gap. The research findings have been translated to create and evaluate a user-friendly, accessible online intervention that is simple for health professionals to administer. Finally, and most importantly, female breast cancer survivors have been provided with a novel, evidence-based, effective approach that can, depending on their age, decrease negative affect related to adverse bodily changes and improve their levels of self-compassion.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (389 pages) colour illustration
The use and effectiveness of environmental management practices in Australia
No full textThesis by publication.Bibliography: pages 181-200.Chapter One. Introduction -- Chapter Two. Literature review -- Chapter Three. Data collection and analysis -- Chapter Four. Paper one -- Chapter Five. Paper two -- Chapter Six. Paper three -- Chapter Seven. Conclusion -- Appendices -- References.This thesis examines the use of specific environmental management practices by Australian organisations, including Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) and Environmental Management Accounting (EMA), operationalised in respect to the use of physical and monetary components and Environmental Activity Management as a specific tool of EMA. In addition, the thesis investigates the influence of contingency factors on the use of these practices, and the association between the extent of use of such practices and environmental performance. Data were collected by mail survey questionnaire from a random sample of 208 senior managers in Australian organisations across different industries. The thesis adopts the 'thesis by publication' format and consists of three academic papers. Paper One examines the influence of institutional pressures (coercive, mimetic and normative) on the comprehensiveness of EMSs, and the impact of EMS comprehensiveness on environmental performance. The findings indicate that both coercive and normative pressures influence the comprehensiveness of EMSs. In addition, organisations with more comprehensive EMSs were found to experience higher levels of all four dimensions of environmental performance (resource usage, regulatory compliance, productivity, and stakeholder interaction). Paper Two examines the extent of use of both physical and monetary components of EMA and the influence of the comprehensiveness of the EMS, size, and top management support, on the use of EMA. In addition, the paper investigates the impact of EMA use on environmental performance. The results indicate a moderate extent of physical EMA use, and a low extent of monetary EMA use. The comprehensiveness of the EMS and top management support were found to influence the use of EMA. In addition, the results revealed that the extent of use of physical EMA was associated with one dimension of environmental performance (stakeholder interaction), while the extent of use of monetary EMA was associated with all four dimensions of environmental performance (resource usage, regulatory compliance, productivity, and stakeholder interaction). Paper Three provides an insight into the application of Environmental Activity Management utilising Gosselin's (1997) three levels of Activity Management (namely, Environmental Activity Analysis (EAA), Environmental Activity Cost Analysis (EACA), and Environmental Activity Based Costing (EABC)). The paper also examines the association between Environmental Activity Management and environmental performance, and the role of decision quality as a mediator in this relationship. The results indicate a relatively high extent of EAA use but a low extent of use of EACA and EABC. Organisations using each level of Environmental Activity Management to a greater extent were found to experience higher levels of environmental performance, while the relationship between EAA and EABC with environmental performance was found to be mediated by decision quality. The thesis contributes to the limited empirical evidence concerning the extent of use of environmental management practices, and the effectiveness of such practices in terms of improving environmental performance. The findings highlight the importance of enhancing the comprehensiveness of EMSs, the extent of use of physical and monetary EMA, and the extent of use of different levels of Environmental Activity Management, as a means of improving the environmental performance of organisations. In addition, given the importance of such practices in enhancing environmental performance, the study further contributes to the literature by providing an insight into the contingency factors that organisations should focus on in order to enhance the extent of use of EMSs and EMA.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (xii, 200 pages) diagram
Security techniques for virtual machine based systems
No full textEmpiriical thesis.Bibliography:1. Introduction -- 2. Related work -- 3. Application specific attack detection and protection -- 4. Reputation-based model for DNS -- 5. Attacks and defences techniques against reputation systems -- 6. Integrated security model -- 7. Conclusion and future work -- 8. List of publications -- Apendices -- References.Virtualising computing environments has generated significant research and commercial interest in the past decade and half. The main factors contributing to this resurgence include, but not limited to, greater isolation, ease of deployment and low total cost of ownership that virtualisation provides while improving availability and increasingeffciency of resources. Security has become an important part of the whole virtualisation landscape due to the increased use of virtualised environments that demand diverse security requirements and various levels of trust associated with different platforms, applications and users. This thesis is essentially focusing on security attacks and security architecture for virtual machine based systems.First, the thesis considers virtual machine introspection based techniques for detecting anomalies in virtual machine based applications and services. In particular, it addresses Domain Naming System (DNS) and Web Server based applications, and analyses the different types of security attacks that are possible against these services and the security measures and architecture that can be adopted to counteract these attacks.Then, the thesis proposes a graph-based reputation model for domain name system (DNS) to further strengthen the attacks detection capabilities of the proposed architecture. A detailed analysis of the attacks against the reputation system and technique sto counteract them are described.Finally, an integrated security model combining access control with proposed attack and intrusion detection capabilities together with trust management is proposed for virtual machine based systems. The integrated security architecture can detect intrusions and attacks against the monitored services and is able to dynamically update the access controls policies of the live system to isolate the problematic/compromised service from accessing all other resources while the service is still running. This enables administrators to address the security threats without affecting the rest of the infrastructure. Such a feature helps to enhance the resilience of the system, which is vitally important in securing virtual infrastructures. The thesis describes the design of the integrated security architecture and its implementation. Then the analysis of a number of attacks against DNS and Web servers using the architecture is discussed.Dynamic nature of detecting attacks, proactively protecting specific applications from previously unknown threats and isolating virtual machines without additional resources can stand out as unique features of the security techniques proposed in this thesis.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (xx, 315 pages) diagrams, graph
Exploring adaptation in the introduced house sparrow to Australian climates and environments
No full textThesis by publication.Bibliography: pages 224-231.Chapter One. General introduction -- Chapter Two. Inaccuracies in the history of a well-known introduction: a case study of the Australian House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) -- Chapter Three. Clinal variation in house sparrow body size is better explained by summer maximum temperatures during development, than cold winter temperatures -- Chapter Four. Higher temperatures during development constrain body size in the zebra finch in the wild and under experimental conditions in the laboratory -- Chapter Five. The genetic structure of the introduced house sparrow populations in Australia and New Zealand is consistent with historical descriptions -- Chapter Six. Signatures of genetic adaptation to extremely varied Australian environments in introduced European house sparrows -- Chapter Seven. Living in a heavy metal environment: Evidence for selection in the house sparrow to varied urban environments contaminated with trace elements -- Chapter Eight. General discussion.Invasive species have always been excellent models for understanding local adaptation through their colonization of new and varied environments. The house sparrow (Passer domesticus) has been a key model invasive species around the world and in this thesis, I have expanded this research to consider the Australian population across the current distribution over eastern Australia. Given that we believe most sparrows were introduced to Australia from England in the 1860’s they have colonized temperate biomes that are like their home range and very different climates in the tropical and arid biomes. I have found that genetic differentiation across this region is relatively strong, and this population structure over a range of climates can allow independent populations to adapt to local climates, over the past 150 years. In line with this idea I have found evidence of significant differentiation in morphology across climatic gradients, in this species. In another passerine species, I demonstrated that this is likely largely explained by phenotypic plasticity. Additionally, using genomic SNP data and genome scan methods I explored links between differentiation in allele frequencies and climatic variation across populations. These models found many significant outlier loci, some of which were linked to genes on the reference genome relating to traits important to local adaptation, such as thermal tolerance, immune function and morphology. In addition to exploring climate as a selective force I consider the effects of heavy metal pollution on urban sparrow populations and found outlier genes that could be relevant to responding to lead contamination. These functional loci provide targets for future research describing the mechanisms behind local adaptation. Understanding how species adapt to different environmental conditions through both phenotypic plasticity and selection will be important for predicting the response of wildlife to the rapid changes in habitat and climate caused by humans -- Abstract.1 online resource (vii, 236 pages
Associations between temperature and crime in New South Wales, Australia
No full textThesis by publication.Includes bibliographical references.1. Introduction -- 2. Literature review -- 3.Journal manuscript -- 4. Synthesis and conclusion -- Appendices.This study investigates the relationship between temperature and crime in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Time series and logistic models were applied to an 11-year dataset of incidents of assault, theft, and fraud, as well as spatial mapping and modelling of assault. Results suggested that assault and theft counts were significantly higher in summer than winter (18 and 6%, respectively), while fraud counts were not significantly different. Using maximum monthly temperature, results indicated that for every 10°C increase in temperature, average monthly assaults increased by 22%, and thefts by 3.5%, while again, the relationship for fraud was not significant. Modelling daily average counts revealed similar results. The study also found that for every 10ºC increase in temperature, a violent crime was 14 to 16 times more likely than a nonviolent. Spatially, 96% of Local Government Areas (LGAs) in NSW had a higher summer assault rate than winter, and LGAs experienced significantly differing responses. The findings of this study provide an empirical foundation for understanding crime-temperature relationships, which may support better predictions of criminal behaviour and allocation of police and health resources. Establishment of such relationships may also be useful for understanding how crime may change in a warming climate.1 online resource (72 pages : illustrations, maps
Development of novel metabolite biosensors
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 54-57.Adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) offers a potentially powerful method of genetic engineering for S. cerevisiae cell factories. One of the major limitations in ALE is the limited genetic diversity generation currently capable with traditional mutagenesis methods. The SCRaMbLE technique, outlined as a part of the Synthetic Yeast Genome Project (Sc 2.0) has the capacity to generate significant genetic diversity for use in ALE. Discussed here is the partial construction of synthetic chromosome XIV as a part of Sc 2.0, with successful integration of approximately 80 kilobases of synthetic DNA. Also presented here is the development of two biosensors for use in S. cerevisiae ALE experiments for the metabolites butanol and methionine, both of which are industrially significant chemicals. The butanol biosensor was based on the BmoRp transcription factor from Thauera butanovorans. Treatment of cells containing this biosensor with 5mM of butanol resulted in a 1.7 fold increase in GFP expression. The methionine biosensor was based on the S. cerevisiae MET17 promoter and has a dynamic range of 8.6 fold with the addition of 5mM methionine. Thorough characterisation of the components that comprise these biosensors suggest promising modifications that could improve their function and ultimately enable their use for ALE.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (62 pages) diagrams, graph
The role of executive control in collaborative recall
No full textEmpirical thesis."Department of Cognitive Science, ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Faculty of Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia" -- title page.Bibliography: pages 187-205.Chapter 1. General introduction -- 2. A continuous measure approach to investigating the role of executive control in collaborative recall -- 3.An extreme groups approach to investigating the role of executive control in collaborative recall -- 4. A component score approach to investigating the role of executive control in collaborative recall -- Chapter 5. General discussion -- Chapter 6. Summary and future work -- References -- Appendices.The purpose of this PhD program of research was to investigate the role of executive control in collaborative recall. While the costs and benefits of collaborative recall have been well-defined, little research has examined how the individuals within collaborative groups affect the outcomes. I hypothesized that executive control would influence collaborative recall because executive control is implicated in modulating individuals’ susceptibility to disruption and their ability to inhibit—two processes which are posited to contribute to collaborative costs.In a series of three experiments I investigated how the abilities that people brought into collaboration influenced collaborative recall as well as subsequent, postcollaborative recall. That is, how did individual differences in executive control influence: What people brought in to collaboration? How they performed in collaboration? and What they took away from collaboration? I examined executive control ability at the individual level as well as the group level. At the group level, I investigated both the average ability of group members as well as the difference between group members’ abilities.In Experiment 1 I found that neither individual ability nor group-level ability influenced collaborative recall. However, the difference in ability between group members predicted attenuated post-collaborative benefits. Lower ability individuals who had collaborated in groups with partners whose abilities were much higher than their own tended to forget previously remembered information.In Experiment 2 I pre-screened individuals and composed groups based on differing ability compositions. While I did not replicate results from Experiment 1, I did observe the standard costs and benefits of collaboration where people who collaborated were disrupted during collaboration, but recalled more information and became more accurate on subsequent individual recall compared to people who did not collaborate.In Experiment 3 I used a battery of cognitive tasks to derive an executive control component score intended to assess latent ability. I found a similar pattern of forgetting to Experiment 1, such that the difference between group members’ abilities predicted forgetting for the lower ability partners. This was further qualified by lower recognition performance for the lower ability partners, which suggested an inhibitory process was responsible.Overall, the findings from my PhD research suggest that collaborative recall does not influence all collaborators in the same way. In some groups, lower ability individuals do not benefit from collaboration to the same extent as their higher ability partners. This is due to losing originally remembered material, which questions the generally accepted wisdom that collaboration is beneficial for later individual memory. However, across all three studies I found evidence that the use of retrieval strategies might mitigate this effect. I discuss the theoretical implications, as well as practical implications for education and ageing.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (viii, 214 pages) graphs, table
Growing great deputies: A mixed methods investigation of the career progression, perceptions and educational leadership practices of deputy principals in secondary schools
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 219-235Chapter 1: Introduction -- Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework and Literature -- Chapter 3: Context of the Study -- Chapter 4: Research Design and Methods -- Chapter 5: Analysis - Sample Characteristics and the CELSA Scale -- Chapter 6: Results - Career Progression -- Chapter 7: Results - Educational Leadership -- Chapter 8: Discussion -- Chapter 9: ConclusionWithin the extensive body of literature regarding school leadership and leadership preparation, little attention is afforded to deputy principals (DPs). While the influence of leaders on student learning outcomes is now generally acknowledged, and preparation programs for leaders are increasingly offered, attention is focused almost entirely on principals.This study investigates the career progression and leadership work of deputy principals in secondary schools, as these senior leaders not only form the pipeline for future principals but are assigned significant responsibilities in their current roles. Analysis of the literature in three interrelated areas of inquiry - deputy principals, educational leadership, and preparation and succession - confirms the paucity of research about DPs and implies the need for large-scale empirical studies.This mixed-methods study focuses on deputy principals in government secondary schools in New South Wales, Australia, in 2012-2013. It examines their aspirations, preparation for the role, perceptions of and engagement in educational leadership. In a two-phase design, data are collected in an online questionnaire followed by semi-structured interviews. The concept of educational leadership in operationalised in a new self-assessment scale, allowing insights into the specific types of activities engaged in by DPs. Results from quantitative and qualitative data analysis are integrated to generate inferences.Findings suggest that these deputies experienced only ad hoc preparation for their role, requiring no formal learning, and that only about half aspired to the principalship. Participantss' perceptions of educational leadership were not fully aligned with current literature, and their leadership efforts were largely directed to activities which the research suggests have limited direct impact on student learning.Recommendations are made for further research into leadership in the secondary context, including the potential contribution of 'career deputies'. Urgent review of leadership preparation, recruitment and development policies is recommended.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (xv, 235, 55 pages : illustrations
Frequency extension of solid-state terahertz lasers
No full textEmpirical thesis.Includes bibliographical references.1. Introduction -- 2. Materials and methods -- 3. Nonlinear materials for stimulated polariton scattering -- 4. Linear resonator polariton lasers -- 5. Surface-emitted resonator polariton lasers -- 6. Conclusion and future work -- Appendices.Terahertz radiation has the potential to impact revolutionary real-world applications throughTHz spectroscopy and spectral imaging in various fields such as life-sciences, medicine, homeland security and in manufacturing. Terahertz laser sources based on intracavity stimulated polariton scattering (SPS) in magnesium oxide-doped lithium niobate crystals(MgO:LiNbO3; MgO:LN) have been extensively reported in the literature, typically producing terahertz radiation continuously tunable from 1 – 3 THz. This technology has proven to produce truly compact, reliable and cost-effective THz sources with frequency tunable output which can be interfaced with relatively simple detection mechanisms (portable spectrometers, Golay cells, and robust pyroelectric detectors). What is of particular significance is that the core technology is based on solid state laser design, which is well established, and the components are well developed.This thesis offers new insights into the design and operation of intracavity THz lasers based on stimulated polariton scattering. Contributions to the knowledge base have been made with regards to the understanding of SPS material properties, terahertz frequency coverage and terahertz output power. The SPS crystals are investigated from first principles, with their vibrational spectra (spontaneous Raman and infrared reflection) and dispersion properties being examined. Their polariton dispersion curves, refractive index and absorption coefficient are calculated, providing valuable tools to guide the design of these sources.Exploring MgO:LiNbO3, and also two other SPS-active crystals never explored in the intracavity design, potassium titanyl phosphate (KTiOPO4; KTP) and rubidium titanyl phosphate (RbTiOPO4; RTP), significant contributions to the area of SPS laser design have been made. The use of KTP and RTP in the novel intracavity surface-emitted geometry expanded the terahertz tuning range of intracavity SPS sources up to 5.98 THz. The average output power of the terahertz field was also greatly enhanced, reaching 125 μW for a modest 6 W diode pump power. This remarkable power level is the highest ever reported from an intracavity SPS laser source, and breaks the 0.1 mW THz power barrier. Moreover, this represents an increase in one order of magnitude in output power, and two orders of magnitude in diode-to-THz conversion efficiency from previously reported intracavity SPS laser systems.The beam quality parameter of the terahertz output was also measured to be excellent incomparison to previously reported linear THz SPS sources, being MH2~1.57 and MV2~1 in the horizontal and vertical dimensions respectively, indicating a substantial increase in brightness.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (xvii, 282 pages) colour illustration
Crafting the hammer: a philosophical examination of attempts to capture the human capacity for number
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 48-55.Introduction -- Chapter 1. Setting the scene -- Chapter 2. Spelke's nativist position -- Chapter 3. The language embodied position -- Chapter 4. Enculturation -- Conclusions -- References.This thesis argues that two empirical approaches to capture the human capacity for number are not well-justified and are too narrow, and consequently, are not robust enough to capture this capacity. The two empirical approaches analysed are the nativist approach endorsed by Elizabeth Spelke (e.g. 2011) and the embodied cognition approach formulated by George Lakoff and Rafael Núñez (2000). I argue that the former approach privileges neural modules in the explanation of this capacity without sufficient justification; the latter approach excludes neural circuits from the explanation, also without sufficient justification, as well as fails to provide a plausible evolutionary story to explain the emergence of number in human life. I conclude the thesis by arguing that an empirical approach robust enough to capture the human capacity for number should be informed by theories on niche construction (Sterelny, 2007); mimesis (Tomasello, 1999); the emergence of the modern mind (Donald, 1991); neural reuse (Anderson, 2010) and cognitive integration (Menary, 2007).Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (55 pages