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Breast image classification using machine learning techniques
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 89-90.1. Introduction -- 2. Background and related work -- 3. Wavelet transform -- 4. Invariant scattering convolution networks -- 5. Results -- 6. Conclusions -- 7. Abbreviations -- Appendices -- Bibliography.Among all the common forms of cancer, breast cancer is the most prevalent one. Statistics show that breast cancer causes the second highest mortality in women worldwide. Accurate classification of the breast cancer is of high importance for the proper diagnosis. The survival rate of breast cancer affected people is greatly increased if the cancer is detected early. Ultrasound, MRI or CT imaging techniques are used to capture the current condition of the breast. Digital signal processing, along with modern computer aided techniques are used to analyse these images, and proper diagnosis of the images can save the diagnoses time of the doctor. For the correct classification of the images, Feature detection and extraction of the features play a vital role. Various feature detection techniques are available, But for this thesis we will use the wavelet transform to perform feature detection. The features extracted from the images using the wavelet transform will be utilised for classification purposes. For the classification task we will use a support vector machine.Mode of access: World wide web.1 online resource (xv, 90 pages diagrams, graphs, tables
Fit for the future, (not) fit for the community: a critical analysis of NSW Council amalgamation and community opposition
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 62-69.Chapter One. Introduction -- Chapter Two. Literature review -- Chapter Three. Research methodology -- Chapter Four. Council amalgamation in New South Wales -- Chapter Five. Critical insights of NSW council amalgamation -- Chapter Six. Conclusion -- References -- Appendices.The NSW State Government announced its local government strategic reform program Fit for the Future (FFTF) in 2014. At the centre of the NSW Government's plan was the desire to reduce the number of local government areas (LGAs). This research found that council amalgamation remains a central policy goal of local government strategic reform. Despite the goals of the State Government, the FFTF reforms were opposed throughout the process. This opposition arose from both local communities and local government. Despite a growing body of existing literature exploring Council reform in NSW, a critical gap is observed. To date, analysis of local government reform fail to examine the rationale and strategy of community opposition. In order to better reveal the insights of the amalgamation process, this project adopted a case study approach by examining the proposed merger of Ryde, Lane Cove and Hunters Hill councils. A qualitative mixed methods approach is adopted. Within the context of the neoliberal and post-political form of governance, this research reveals the State Government objectives and strategies behind FFTF. Likewise, drawing on a post-politics and NIMBY framework, councils and community reasons and strategies in opposing council amalgamation is interrogated.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (75 pages) colour illustration
Exploring the relationship between corporate social responsibility and organisational citizenship behaviour: a study in Pakistan
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: Pages 59-71.Chapter 1: Introduction -- Chapter 2: Literature review -- Chapter 3: Theoretical framework and hypotheses -- Chapter 4: Methodology -- Chapter 5: Findings and analysis -- Chapter 6: Conclusion.The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between corporate social responsibiliy (CSR) and organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) among employees in the Pakistani context. Although much research has been conducted to explore how CSR influences organisational outcomes, there remains limited research examining its effects on employees' attitudes and behaviour. To address this research gap, this study examined the relationship between CSR programs and employee OCB. Further, in consideration of the range of criticisms regarding managerial imposition of ethical values on employees, this study also examined the variables of communication satisfaction and perceived organisational politics. This study was based on primary questionnaire data from over 200 non-managerial employees from a single case-study organisation in Pakistan. Three dimensions of CSR were found to be significant in promoting or fostering employee OCB: CSR towards the government, CSR towards customers and CSR towards social issues. Interestingly, the results indicated that CSR towards employees was not significant for employee OCB. The results also demonstrated that perceived organisational politics and communication satisfaction fully mediate the relationship between CSR and OCB. This paper discusses the theoretical and practical implications of these findings, and offers suggestions for future studies.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (viii, 79 pages) graphs, table
Intensive care nurse perceptions of family-centred end of life care and quality of dying
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 52-58.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Literature review -- Chapter 3. Method -- Chapter 4. Results -- Chapter 5. Discussion and conclusion -- References -- Appendices.Many Australians will die expectedly within a hospital setting. The intensive care unit (ICU) is a particularly challenging environment to provide excellent end of life care. The aim of this study was to investigate intensive care nurse perceptions of the quality of dying and death of patients who died receiving end of life care and their perspectives as to whether this care met the needs of the patient’s families. An ethically-approved descriptive study was conducted, involving 35 nurses reporting via online survey on the most recent patient that they cared for in the ICU, and who subsequently died receiving end of life care. Overall, statistical analysis of quantitative survey items revealed that quality of dying and death was perceived by nurses as good, whereas satisfaction with meeting family needs ranged from fair to good. Following an inductive analysis of the open-ended survey items, six key categories of meeting family needs emerged: quality of care, emotional support, communicating and providing information, spending time with loved one, physical and environmental comfort, and spiritual care. The quantitative and qualitative results of the current study also identified several areas where nurses perceive quality of dying and death and meeting family needs intersect: symptom control, presence of family, dignity, and spiritual care. The development and testing of tools that measure the quality of end of life care in an Australian ICU setting is an important priority for future research.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (ix, 75 pages) table
To the beat of her own drum: feminine agency in colonial New South Wales 1873-1881
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: 117-127.Chapter 1. Introduction -- A narrative of victimhood : perceptions of colonial women ; The long arm of the law : the matrimonial causes act of 1873 and the colonial divorce court -- Chapter 2. Martha Anderson : the seamstress and the commercial traveller -- Chapter 3. Fanny Teas : on the highway to ruin -- Chapter 4. Annette Miller : of idle and vagrant habits -- Chapter 5. Jane Dibbs : reduced to the lowest pitch of want and starvation -- Chapter 6. Conclusion : the iron cage of gender constraints -- Bibliography.This thesis analyses the ways that some colonial women achieved a measure of personal autonomy by engaging in an adulterous affair. It argues that despite entrenched structural inequalities, the adulterous woman was able to exercise agency in the context of her infidelity. Through an analysis of four cases tried by jury in which a husband sued for divorce on the ground of his wife's adultery, I explore how social class influenced women's capacity for agency. Using documentary evidence taken from the Supreme Court archives and the colonial press of 1873-1881, I suggest that even the powerless and disempowered can at times act with intentionality and autonomy, and that infidelity provided some women with a space in which to resist and challenge their oppression. However, exploring the interaction of social class with gender reveals that this resistance took very different forms according to the individuals material circumstances and position in society. Each of the four women here did indeed march to the beat of her own drum, but whilst facing an economic, political and legal disempowerment that severely hampered her efforts.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (127 pages
In search of the determinants of microfinance lending rates
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 65-68.1. Introduction -- 2. Review of the literature -- 3. Hypotheses -- 4. Data and methodology -- 5. Empirical results -- 6. policy implications -- 7. Conclusions -- References.One of the most significant discussions about microfinance institutions (MFIs) concerns the apparent exorbitant interest rates they charge. Due to these high interest rates, MFIs are observed as an exploiter despite all the effort they make to eliminate poverty. Such negative views need to be verified, and therefore, more research is required to understand why these interest rates are high. This thesis studies the determinants of the interest rates in MFIs, particularly investigating the role of scale economies in controlling the higher interest rates. For that purpose, data for thirty-four large MFIs from eight Asian countries for nine years (2005 to 2013) have been used to find empirical evidence. Two approaches have been employed, replicating the Cotler and Almazan (2013) methodology, a fixed effect model (FE) for single equation estimation and three-stage least squares (3SLS) for simultaneous equation estimation. The results suggest that operating costs need to be reduced in order to control the interest rates. In addition, large MFIs are prone to achieve sustainability and efficiency more easily, thus possessing more power to exercise economies of scale that leads to lower interest rates. The outcomes of this study have important policy implications---in particular, not to restrict MFIs’ growth but in fact, to support larger MFIs for they are able to reduce their interest rates. Moreover, the empirical findings in this thesis help to shed light on understanding the way microfinance operates today and suggests the scope for improvements.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (68 pages
Which genre? Which patterns?: Communicating thought and self through the labyrinth of the historical literary text type of War and peace
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 75-78Chapter One. The introduction -- Chapter Two. The Literature review and methodology -- Chapter Three. The findings -- Chapter Four. The discussion -- Bibliography -- Appendices.This dissertation focuses on the effects of discoursal variables on the genre of an English translation of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. In the identification of microdiscoursal tools of transitivity and ergative case, metafunctions, fictional voice and event types, this research illustrates how the generic design of this literary text is particularly not close to a novel. This paper identifies the topology of this rendered text as an amalgamation of sub-genre. The oscillation between infinitesimal and historical events is examined to pinpoint the nature such a genre. Systemic Functional Linguistic discourse and genre theories are utilised in this generic investigation. In-depth qualitative and quantitative procedures are employed in the discoursal prominence analyses. The discoursal variables show a reflective influence on the architecture of the text's genre.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (106 pages) illustrations (some colour
Pragmatic romance: civil union, 'emerging adulthood', and the effect on marriage in France
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 55-62.Introduction -- Chapter 1. PACS, Catholicism and the feminist debate -- Chapter 2. PACS is not marriage -- Chapter 3. The dark side of marriage -- Chapter 4. A symbolic ritual, a consumerist's dream.Marriage rates in France have declined since the introduction of the Pacte Civile de Solidarité (PACS) or Civil Union Pact in 1999. Although instituted for same-sex couples, over the past decade, a significant number of heterosexual couples chose to PACS instead of, or prior to, getting married. This research studies the effect of introducing civil union on marriage in France.Second-wave feminists criticised marriage extensively for its exclusive, oppressive nature and suggested that civil unions might be an alternative means to legally recognise relationships. However, the French case study of PACS defies expectations. PACS is used as a transitionary union during ‘emerging adulthood,’ late teens to mid- to late-twenties, prior to establishing a nuclear family. Unlike marriage, PACS is easily dissolved, allowing individuals to move in and out of PACSes. PACS has placed marriage semiotically into a ‘higher stakes’ category, interviews reveal, especially given the prevalence of divorce, increasing the social value and clarifying what marriage signifies. Couples aspire to marry as much or more than in the past and look to PACS as a stepping-stone to marriage that requires less emotional, material or symbolic commitment. This research begins to explain the drop in marriage rates but suggests reasons why marriage rates are still higher than those of PACS. PACS is refining, not replacing, the significance of marriage in France.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (62 pages
Coupled FEM-BEM techniques for 2D inverse wave scattering problems
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 149-157.1. Introduction -- 2. Preliminaries -- 3. Coupled FEM-BEM technique -- 4. Coupled FEM-BEM technique for inhomogeneous problems -- 5. Inverse medium problem for non-stratified media -- 6. Inverse coated problem -- 7. Discussion -- 8. Conclusion -- 9. Appendix .In this thesis we consider an impenetrable cylindrical scatterer surrounded by a heterogeneous dielectric coating. We present a numerical scheme for reconstructing the refractive index of the heterogeneous medium using far field data. The numerical scheme is based only on the mild assumption that the inhomogeneous medium is contained inside a circular cylinder, and does not require axis-symmetry or other similar restrictions. Moreover, we only require the boundary of the scatterer to be piecewise smooth. We reformulate this inverse problem as a nonlinear equation, which we then solve using a regularised Newton-type solver. The key innovation is performing nonlinear function evaluations, which involve solving a forward scattering problem, using an effcient coupled finite-element/boundary element method (FEMBEM) for the heterogeneous Helmholtz equation, which ensures that the important radiation condition is incorporated exactly. We derive an analytic representation for the Fréchet derivative for the heterogeneous dielectric coated scatterer, which we effciently compute using a novel extension of the coupled FEM-BEM scheme. The scheme is then demonstrated by reconstructing challenging continuous and discontinous media from noisy far field data.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (157 pages) diagrams, table
Indonesian EFL learners’ development of academic literacy: a study of grammatical metaphor
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 79-89.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Literature review -- Chapter 3. Methodology -- Chapter 4. Research findings and discussion -- Chapter 5. Conclusion -- References -- Appendices.This study explores the development of the academic literacy of Indonesian learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) by investigating their grammatical metaphor (GM) deployment. The participants of the study are English Department students in The State College for Islamic Studies located in Kediri, East Java, Indonesia. The EFL learners’ academic texts were collected cross-sectionally, representing two academic years of undergraduate study: the first and third year. The study uses quantitative and qualitative measurements to analyse the deployment of grammatical metaphor. First, frequency and variation analysis is conducted to reveal the prevalence and variation with which the learners deploy grammatical metaphor. Second, qualitative measures of metaphorical control are employed. Finally, this study analyses the differences in the students’ use of GM in their writing across the two years. The findings show that both groups deployed similar types of reconstruals of experiential and logical metaphors. Process to Thing transcategorisation is the largest type of experiential GM reconstrual across the two groups, while Relator to Process is the major logical GM reconstrual in both groups. Third year students surpass the first year group in the frequency and proportion of instances of experiential and logical GM deployment. In terms of metaphorical control, both groups show similar control over experiential and logical GM reconstrual. The findings suggest that a more explicit pedagogy to expose students to GM and more basic lexicogrammar teaching to enable the students to write academically valued texts are warranted.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (viii, 123 pages) graphs, table