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Teleology and supernatural agents
No full textTheoretical thesis.Running title: Teleology and supernatural agents.Bibliography: pages 68-77.Introduction -- Method -- Results -- Discussion -- References -- Appendices.Adults have an enduring tendency to endorse teleological explanations of the natural world, where objects are explained with reference to some purpose or function. Research currently suggests that teleological and non-teleological beliefs about nature can, and do, co-exist, and that endorsement of teleological explanations of nature is positively related to a belief in the existence of supernatural agents. However, questions remain regarding exactly what aspect of belief in supernatural agents underlies the positive relationship, and how this can be reconciled with findings of an enduring teleological bias. Given that teleology is thought to develop from an understanding of intentionality, it was hypothesised that after controlling for other aspects of belief in supernatural agents, belief in the intentionality of supernatural agents should positively predict explicit teleological endorsement of the natural world, and that for non-religious individuals there should be a divergence of implicit and explicit teleological beliefs. In this study, participants were asked to judge as true or false a series of teleological explanations of biological organisms and natural non-living objects under either speeded or un-speeded conditions. After controlling for belief in the existence of supernatural agents, the belief that supernatural agents intentionally interact with the world positively predicted explicit teleological endorsement of natural non-living objects. For non-religious individuals, rates of implicit endorsement were significantly higher than explicit endorsement, whereas for highly religious individuals there was no significant difference between the two. These results are interpreted as being consistent with an intention-based theory of teleological reasoning, and help to reconcile the finding of a positive relationship between teleological endorsement and belief in supernatural agents with those of an enduring teleological bias. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed, and several avenues for future research are identified from questions raised as a result of the current study.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (x, 100 pages) graphs, table
Parent engagement with their children’s primary school: a case study of two Indian migrant families
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 64-70.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Literature review -- Chapter 3. Methodology -- Chapter 4. Findings -- Chapter 5. Discussion --Chapter 6. Conclusion -- References -- Appendices.Recent research has highlighted the need for attention to migrant families and their experiences with the school system, to understand factors affecting student learning and success. While there is research endorsing the importance of the school-home partnership (Glick & Hohmann-Marriott, 2007; Markose & Simpson, 2016), there has been limited research attention to the growing demographic of families from India who represent the fourth highest migrant population group in Australia. This project is a case study of two Indian migrant families, and their perceptions of, and experiences with their children’s primary school.The study adopts a qualitative approach and families were selected by purposive sampling in line with pre-defined criteria. Data were collected in semi-structured interviews, in two stages. Interviews focussed on parents’ migration journeys and views on parent involvement. Findings suggest that, being transnationals, both families had a global outlook and wished to contribute to a critical evaluation of the education system. The project has brought to light challenges faced by two families from a minority group, in their perception of barriers to their participation in the parent community at the school.This investigation seeks to contribute to existing literature on education in diaspora communities. Through two case studies, it hopes to shed light on the school-home partnership as a factor in better student outcomes and makes suggestions on ways of strengthening this partnership.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (76 pages) : diagram
Too close, yet too far: common envelope interaction of triple systems
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 57-60.1. Introduction -- 2. Simulating the common envelope -- 3. Two-planet simulation -- 4. Neutron star triple system -- 5. Conclusions and future work -- Appendices -- References.The common envelope interaction is a short lived phase in the evolution of binary systems. A number of evolved binary systems have been discovered that have separations too large to fit our understanding of the common envelope, and yet they are too close that a common envelope interaction must have occurred. In some of these systems, an outer tertiary companion is present, suggesting that the presence of an additional companion could have an influence on the final separation of the inner binary. We present the first hydrodynamic simulations of common envelope interactions involving triple systems. The first simulation contains a low-mass giant with two planets, the second is a 10 M RGB star with two solar-mass companions. We observe in our simulations that the outermost companion tends to move outward (or at best remains at a similar distance) from its initial position. Our findings do not support the hypothesis that a triple system could provide a pathway to leave the outer companion at an intermediate separation after a common envelope interaction.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (vii, 60 pages) diagrams, graph
The impact of information systems on stress and behavioral outcomes
No full textEmpirical thesis."This cumulative thesis is the second part of the conjoint dual degree program (Cotutelle) be-tween Macquarie University in Australia and the University of Goettingen in Germany" -- preface.Bibliography: pages 188-227.Introduction -- Theoretical background -- The influence of in-vehicle information systems on range stress -- Less is sometimes more? -- Inaccuracy versus volatility – which is the lesser evil? -- The double-edged sword of information systems -- Too much of a good thing -- Findings -- Implications -- Concluding remarks -- References -- Appendix.The aim of this thesis is to understand how information systems affect the perception of stress and what consequences this effect has on behavioral outcomes. Previous research in the area of information systems, stress, and behavior has highlighted either stress resulting from inter-action with information systems or the potential usefulness of information to reduce stress. Limited research has set out to understand how this dual effect of information systems on stress influences behavioral outcomes. This thesis claims that behavioral outcomes can be better predicted when considering both emphases on the stress-information systems relationship simultaneously.To achieve this research aim, five studies – that set the focus on battery electric vehicles – were conducted. One study provides insights into the positive effect of information systems on the perception of stress and its consequences for behavioral outcomes. A conceptual model was developed that enables investigation of the relationship among information systems, stress, and behavioral outcomes. The results show that the general provision of timely and relevant information through information systems is suitable to reduce stress originating from the limited driving range of battery electric vehicles, thus positively influencing the attitude towards using these vehicles. Two further studies investigate the opposite effect of information systems on the perception of stress. It is shown that the inappropriate provision of information through information systems might increase the perception of stress in the user, which, in turn, may negatively influence the willingness to use battery electric vehicles. Another study integrates both emphases in the stress-information systems relationship, showing that both directional effects influence behavioral outcomes. Finally, one study expands the research focus to mobility-related sustainable business models, revealing the importance of considering the actual impact of information systems on individuals in the design of mobility-related sustainable business models. It is shown that information systems-enabled pricing schemes – an important characteristic of mobility-related sustainable business models – influence the stress perception in users of e-car sharing, which, in turn, impacts behavioral outcomes.The thesis provides important implications to researchers and practitioners by challenging the single viewpoint approach on the information systems–stress relationship when assessing behavioral outcomes.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (vii, 227 pages) diagrams, table
Sex and experience related neural and behavioural plasticity in ants
No full textThesis by publication.Bibliography: pages 32-36.Introduction -- Materials and methods -- Results -- Discussion -- Conclusion -- References.Ants utilise age- and caste-based division of labour, providing an opportunity to investigate behavioural and neural plasticity. Newly eclosed workers perform tasks, such as nursing, and initiate foraging as they mature. Alate males only search for mates and do so exclusively on the wing. In worker ants, age and initial light exposure induce neural changes to the mushroom bodies, higher-order sensory processing regions. However, synaptic neuroplasticity has not been directly linked to the behavioural transition into forager life. In hymenopterans, males demonstrate neuroplasticity associated with initial flights or mating, yet it is unknown how age affects neural circuitry. I documented the navigational behaviour of naïve ants as they exited the nest on consecutive trips. I then compared the structure and organisation of olfactory and visual neuropils within the mushroom bodies with behaviour and foraging experience. Ants leaving the nest for the first time carry out learning walks during which they regularly look back towards the nest. As animals gained experience, their path towards the feeder became increasingly direct. I found no evidence of neuroplasticity among workers with different experience levels. Comparing males that were 2 and 11 days old, I found that the volume and number of synaptic profiles increased in the visual neuropils of mushroom bodies. However, a similar comparison in workers revealed no such differences. I discuss how these differences in neuroplasticity in each caste have evolved to suit their respective lifestyles and ecologies.1 online resource (36 pages) colour illustration
Proteomic analysis of remating inhibition in Queensland fruitfly
No full textThesis by publication.Bibliography: pages 49-62.The Queensland fruit fly (Qfly) Bactrocera tryoni is a major pest of Australian horticulture. A Sterile Insect Technique is being developed to control Qfly but remating of females with wild males could undermine its success. In Qfly, the transfer of seminal fluid during mating influences the remating propensity of females. However, the protein and peptide composition of Qfly seminal fluid has not been characterised. This thesis presents a proteomic analysis of Qfly seminal fluid to identify candidate peptides for sexual inhibition. It characterises the reproductive gland proteomes of sexually mature virgin males, which possess full gland contents, just-mated males of the same age whose gland contents have been transferred to their mates, and males dissected 13–16.5 hours after mating whose gland contents should be substantially replenished. I find 63 candidate seminal fluid proteins, 21 of which could be sufficiently annotated. I do not find homologues of the Sex Peptide responsible for remating inhibition in Drosophila melanogaster, but I do find matches to other peptide hormones. I also find several proteases, other post-translational protein modifying enzymes, and ligand-binding proteins, some number of which could be responsible for activation and transport of prohormones to their receptors in the female.1 online resource (67 pages) colour illustration
Financial analysts’ cash flow forecasts, cash flow asymmetry and accounting conservatism
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages178-187.This thesis consists of three self-contained research papers in the areas of cash flow forecasts, cash flow asymmetry and accounting conservatism. The first paper (in Chapter Two) examines the factors affecting the issuance, accuracy and usefulness of analysts’ cash flow forecasts (CFFs) in Australia. The Australian market is selected due to the dominance of mining firms on the Australian Securities Exchange, the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the prevalence of the direct method to prepare cash flow statements among Australian firms. Given the economic importance of the mining industry in Australia, the results show that analysts are likely to provide CFFs to mining firms with poor financial health and high default risk because investors have particular concerns about mining firms’ distress risk. In contrast, analysts’ provision of CFFs increases with non-mining firms which remain in sound financial health. The determinants of the issuance and accuracy of analysts’ CFFs also differ in the periods before and after the adoption of IFRS. The results add new evidence on the effect of the adoption of IFRS on analysts’ cash flow forecasting behaviours. In addition, I find that analysts’ CFFs are substantially more accurate than the forecasts generated from time-series models and analysts’ earnings forecast accuracy is improved with the presence of CFFs. The findings contribute to the debate on the merits of the presentation of cash flow statements using the direct method and will be welcomed by the Australian Accounting Standard Board, one of few accounting standard setters around the world which had previously required and now encourages cash flow statements to be presented using the direct method.Asymmetric behaviour of operating cash flows (CFO) refers to the extent to which cash flows reflect bad news in a timelier manner than good news. It was first documented in Basu (1997) along with the well-known asymmetric behaviour of earnings. Although both asymmetries are pervasive, the former has received far less attention. The second paper (in Chapter Three) of the thesis uncovers the determinants that drive CFO asymmetry. It proposes and examines two new explanations for CFO asymmetry based on sticky cost behaviours and conservatism demands. The results show that cost stickiness and the equity contracting, litigation and taxation demands for conservatism, in addition to firm life cycle, drive CFO asymmetry. However, none of these factors dominates the others, and their combination cannot fully explain the degree of asymmetric timeliness in CFO. Overall, the results provide the first insights regarding CFO asymmetric timeliness.Given that directors and managers do not always act in shareholders’ interests (Adams & Ferreira, 2007; Laux, 2008; Taylor, 2010), the Securities Class Action Litigation in the United States has been perceived to function as a potentially useful mechanism to discipline opportunistic managers and controlling shareholders as it enables individual shareholders to form a class and sue managers and directors for their breaches of SEC rules (Choi, 2004;Hopkins, 2017). However, there is an ongoing debate on the effectiveness of securities class action litigation in regulating securities markets. The third paper (in Chapter Four) examines the causal link between litigation risk and accounting conservatism. By employing difference-in-differences tests centred on a US circuit court ruling that limited shareholders’ ability to sue public firms headquartered in states within the Ninth Circuit, I find a significant decrease in conditional conservatism following the ruling for Ninth Circuit firms relative to unaffected firms headquartered outside the Ninth Circuit. The results are robust to alternative conservatism demand explanations and controls for endogenous self-selection of states of headquarters, event windows, earnings management and the pressures from external monitors. Overall, the evidence is consistent with the corporate governance role of the threat of litigation risk in disciplining managerial financial reporting practices and mitigating agency conflicts, and it adds to the debate on the role of securities class actions in regulating securities markets.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (xii, 187 pages) table
Exploring energy distribution of photon upconversion and downconversion luminescence in lanthanide-doped nanoparticles
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 55-60.1. Introduction -- 2. Instrumentation, experimental methods -- 3. Probing the competition between photoluminescence pathways in lanthanide-doped nanoparticles -- 4. Exploring the influence of doping on the energy distribution in lanthanide nanoparticles -- 5. Conclusion and perspectives.Lanthanide-doped nanoparticles exhibiting short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) luminescence have emerged as promising luminescent probes for advanced in vivo imaging with enhanced tissue penetration, sensitivity and resolution. However, a key bottleneck remains in the limited luminescence efficiency, which fundamentally stems from the complicated energy levels and transition pathways possessed by lanthanide emitters. This work aims to perform a spectroscopic study on several lanthanide-doped nanoparticles to illustrate their detailed photon transfer and energy distribution processes. A luminescence spectroscopy system is first set up, allowing characterisation of broad emission spectra spanning the ultraviolet to the SWIR region. Then, Er- and Tm-activated nanoparticles are examined, and the energy transition processes corresponding to individual characteristic emission peaks are interpreted based on their measured energy level diagrams alongside the excitation-emission relations. Finally, the influence of doping concentrations as well as additional co-dopants are investigated to explore potential approaches to regulating the energy distribution. The results obtained here may be exploited to engineer lanthanide-doped nanoparticles with concentrated SWIR emission for efficient in vivo optical imaging in the future.1 online resource (v, 60 pages : illustrations
Life in the big city: identifying bandicoot presence in the urban matrix
No full textThesis by publication.Bibliography: pages 57-66.Introduction -- Methods -- Results -- Discussion -- Conclusions -- Supplementary material -- References.The greater Sydney region provides habitat for two species of Peramelidae, the southern brown (Isoodon obesulus obesulus) and long-nosed bandicoot (Perameles nasuta). Both species have suffered significant range contraction since colonisation, yet little is known of their ecology and behavior. The endangered southern brown bandicoot is found only in Sydney's northern national parks and is rarely sighted. The long-nosed bandicoot is listed as endangered in Sydney's inner west and Manly's North Head yet is a common exploiter of lawns and parks in other suburbs adjoining national parks.This study used GIS mapping and statistical analyses to examine five urban land use and four demographic variables likely influencing bandicoot presence in the Sydney urban matrix. Datasets include previously unused wildlife rescue and Council records mapped in five-year time slices over the past twenty-five years. The quality of datasets proved insufficient to establish significant relationships with all but one land-use variable, agricultural and rural lands, which showed a strongly negative association with bandicoot observations.This study demonstrates greater quality, larger scale datasets and the principles of ecologically sustainable development are necessary to make informed policy and planning decisions if longnosed bandicoots are to be sustained within the intensifying Sydney urban landscape.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (66 pages) colour map
Enterprise education in NSW Commerce
No full textTheoretical thesis.Running title: Enterprise education in NSW Commerce.Bibliography: pages 106-124.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Literature review -- Chapter 3. Theoretical frameworks -- Chapter 4. Methodologies -- Chapter 5. Results -- Chapter 6. Discussion -- Chapter 7. Conclusion -- References -- Appendices.Enterprise education is conducted in a wide variety of formats at schools and universities in many countries. Recent research into the pedagogical approaches and student outcomes has mainly occurred in Europe at the higher education level. Studies are being conducted in schools but there is a need to investigate the teaching of enterprising skills and capabilities in Australian schools. Research in this area could help school leadership make decisions about developing teachers’ pedagogical skills for the purpose of enterprise education. This thesis investigates how teachers perceive the development of students’ enterprising skills and capabilities in terms of student outcomes, best-practice pedagogy, self-reported enactment and barriers to implementing enterprise education. The study is based on the framework of pedagogical content knowledge and explores possible signature pedagogies. A questionnaire completed by NSW Commerce teachers, producing quantitative and qualitative data, forms the foundation of the research. The findings show considerable alignment between teachers’ perceived benefits of enterprise education and those reported in literature. They also reveal an enactment gap, particularly involving pedagogy for active learning. Factors within the school context, such as time, appear to be barriers to implementation. Signature pedagogies were unable to be determined at this time.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (145 pages) graphs, table