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Emotional labour and communities of coping in academia
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 62-71.Chapter One. Introduction -- Chapter Two. Literature review -- Chapter Three. Research methodology -- Chapter Four. Findings -- Chapter Five. Discussion -- Chapter Six. Conclusion -- References -- Appendices.Emotional labour has been a burgeoning research area among scholars because of its significance for employees and organisations. However, there is scarce research on emotional labour among high professional service jobs as compared to customer service jobs. Moreover, little research has been done on emotional labour among academics and how they cope with the emotional labour requirements of their teaching role. To address this gap, this study focuses on examining the emotional labour requirements of academics and specifically on whether and how communities of coping allow academics to manage the emotional labour requirements of their teaching role. This thesis employs a qualitative case study methodology, utilising semi-structured interviews to collect data from Australian business schools’ academics. Findings show various emotional labour requirements for academics such as being enthusiastic, calm and mindful. Adhering to such occupational emotional labour requirements results in emotional exhaustion among academics. The study demonstrates that communities of coping play an imperative role in dealing with emotional labour requirements of academics. This research concludes that despite the significance of communities of coping in academia, its scope is narrowed down due to the encroachment of managerialism, intensified research expectations and increased workload. This study contributes to the emotional labour scholarship and extends existing research on the academic profession.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (80 pages) table
Barriers and facilitators to providing pulmonary rehabilitation to individuals from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 101-106.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Methodology -- Chapter 3. Results : stage 2, quantitative survey -- Chapter 4. Results : stage 2, qualitative survey -- Chapter 5. Results : stage 3, integrated results -- Chapter 6. Discussion and concluding remarks.Pulmonary rehabilitation is effective in improving health outcomes in individuals with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), as well as many other chronic respiratory diseases. It is recommended that all Australians with COPD who experience dyspnoea, or shortness of breath, should be offered pulmonary rehabilitation. However, despite growing cultural diversity within the Australian population, the impact of this diversity on access to, and participation in, pulmonary rehabilitation has not been investigated. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the referral and participation rates of individuals from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds in pulmonary rehabilitation programs in Sydney, Australia, as well as potential barriers and facilitators to providing pulmonary rehabilitation to these individuals.This was a mixed methods study, using a sequential, qualitative dominant, participant-selection variant of explanatory design. Participants were coordinators of pulmonary rehabilitation programs in the Sydney metropolitan area. Stage one of the study involved a primarily quantitative web-based survey, stage two used semi-structured interviews to gain in-depth qualitative information, and stage three involved the integration of quantitative and qualitative data to provide a detailed analysis of the key outcomes.All participants reported that their program received referrals of individuals from CALD backgrounds, including individuals from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds, although the numbers of referrals varied between programs. Interpreters were often used for initial assessments of individuals with limited English proficiency, however were not often used for exercise classes or final assessments. Barriers identified by participants included cultural factors that programs were not able to accommodate, communication difficulties, challenges using interpreters, and resource limitations. The use of alternate methods of communication, engaging family support, and optimising utilisation of interpreters were identified as potential facilitators.This study identified that whilst many individuals from CALD backgrounds are referred to pulmonary rehabilitation there are a number of potential barriers to providing pulmonary rehabilitation to these individuals limiting optimal participation. A greater understanding of these barriers, and the harnessing of potential facilitators, such as the development of resources and innovative service delivery models, may help to improve the participation of individuals from CALD backgrounds in pulmonary rehabilitation.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (xi, 125 pages) graphs, table
Validating assessment of spinal stiffness: bench-top performance of the VerteTrack system
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 47-53.1. Introduction -- 2. Systematic literature review -- 3. Methods : benchtop performance of the VerteTrack system -- 4. Results -- 5. Discussion -- References -- Appendices.In the conservative management of non-specific spinal pain, manual therapists commonly assess spinal stiffness to identify aberrant joint motion and to direct treatment. There are various manual and mechanical test methods employed to assess spinal stiffness. The validation of spinal stiffness assessment methods is a multistep process. This thesis has two discrete objectives: (i) to review the literature on reliability of manual and mechanical methods used in the assessment of spinal stiffness, and (ii) determine the bench-top performance of a novel mechanical spinal stiffness assessment device, the VerteTrack. The VerteTrack was designed to measure spinal stiffness at either a single spinal level (static indentation), or multiple spinal levels (dynamic indentation). A review of the literature found that for the assessment of spinal stiffness, manual methods had variable reliability whereas mechanical methods had high reliability but limited clinical utility. The bench-top performace of the VerteTrack demonstrated a high level of accuracy (equivalent to the resolution of the reference test equipment). In this study, comparison of dynamic to static indentation modes revealed a small negative systematic bias (lower spinal stiffness). Future research is required to assess the reliability of the VerteTrack in human subjects.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (x, 65 pages) colour illustration
Constraining variations in the stellar initial mass function with the Fornax3D Survey
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 61-69.1. Introduction -- 2. The data -- 3. Constraining the IMF -- 4. Conclusion -- Appendix -- References.The stellar initial mass function (IMF) describes the distribution of stellar masses when a population of stars first forms. It is a particularly crucial property connecting many different phenomena within a galaxy. Defining the IMF of a galaxy is therefore critical for helping us to understand how galaxies evolve over cosmic time. However, defining the IMF has been the subject of vigorous debate over the past few decades. Recent evidence from early-type galaxies which appear to become more dwarf star rich as galactic mass increases supports a variable rather than universal IMF. With improvements in technology, the question of whether the IMF varies spatially within galaxies has also begun to be investigated, with no clear result as yet. This thesis presents preliminary results from the Fornax3Dsurvey using the MUSE integral field spectrograph. Two techniques for finding the IMF are compared here for the lenticular galaxy FCC167: full spectral fitting, and a more constrained approach focusing on a few key features. While the two methods agree reasonably well on radial variations for the age and abundance parameters in common, the derived IMF shape and its variation within the galaxy differ.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (viii, 69 pages) colour illustration
Homotopy theory of Grothendieck ∞-groupoids and ∞-categories
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 120-121.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Globular theories and models -- Chapter 3. Basic homotopy theory of ∞-groupoids -- Chapter 4. Semi-model structures on categories of models of globular theories -- Chapter 5. Main constructions -- Chapter 6. Systems of structure on the path object -- Chapter 7. Elementary interpretation of operations on cylinders -- Chapter 8. Path object on Grothendieck 3-groupoids of type CW - Chapter 9. Perspectives -- Appendices -- Bibliography.This work investigates the homotopy theory of globular models for higher categorical structures. In particular, we focus on weak ∞-groupoids, but most of the constructions can be performed also for weak ∞-categories, and we explicitly mention this when appropriate.Motivated by Grothendieck’s homotopy hypothesis, we study algebraic models of homotopy types in the form of ∞-groupoids, and we address the problem of constructing a path object for these structures, after having introduced their homotopy theory. In detail, we define (trivial) cofibrations and (trivial) fibrations of ∞-groupoids, and prove some basic facts about the induced factorization systems. The construction of a path-object endofunctor is a highly non-trivial task, and the first step we take is to characterize those globular theories whose category of models can be endowed with cofibrantly generated semi-model structure of a precise form, and we also give a sufficient condition for this to happen, based on the existence of a path object endofunctor.We then construct the underlying globular set of this path object based on the notion of cylinders, and show how to endow it with systems of structures, involving compositions, identities and inverses. Using the combinatorics of finite planar rooted trees we construct an approximation of the algebraic structure needed for the construction of the path object and we introduce modifications to “correct” this approximation in low dimensions, and we thus interpret all operations of dimension less than or equal to 2.Finally, we manage to complete this construction for the finite-dimensional case of Grothendieck 3-groupoids, thanks to the introduction of a bicategory of cylinders and modifications. We thus establish a semi-model structure on this category, which is conjectured to model homotopy 3-types.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (x, 121 pages
How do pre-service teachers engage students in learning during professional experience?
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 165-199.Chapter One. Introduction -- Chapter Two. Literature review -- Chapter Three. Theory and methodology -- Chapter Four. Narrative portraits -- Chapter Five. Narrative threads -- Chapter Six. Conclusion -- Appendices -- References.Across the initial teacher education (ITE) literature, professional experience programs (PEP) are recognised as a key component of pre-service teachers’ education (Le Cornu, 2016; Zeichner, 2010). There is limited research on pre-service teachers’ (PSTs) experiences of participating in professional experience programs and an area that is least understood is how they engage primary school students in learning. Set against these gaps in the literature this narrative inquiry explored the experiences of PSTs during their professional experience placements in primary schools. I was interested in how PSTs were engaging their students in learning.The research focused on a small group of PSTs who completed their professional experience placements in primary schools within New South Wales in Australia. The study is a narrative inquiry into the experiences of these pre-service teachers and how they inquired into the way they engaged their students in learning during their day-to-day teaching. In the study I was positioned as a researcher and a teacher educator who worked with the pre-service teachers through their coursework.Field texts (data) for this study included focus groups, one-on-one conversations and questionnaires. Narrative accounts presented as portraits were composed from the data for each of the six PSTs. These portraits were then analysed further and I identified four emergent threads across the portraits: the connection/disconnection between theory and practice; the importance of relationships with key people who taught the pre-service teachers about engagement; the power of reflection on experience in the context of classroom practice; and how the pre-service teachers’ professional identities were shaped through each of these threads.My research revealed that, for these preservice teachers, Dewey’s (1938) concept of experience, engendered through narratives of critical events during professional experience, was a powerful influence on learning. The thesis highlights that an approach to pre-service teachers’ professional experience that is inquiry focused and grounded in the day-to-day practices of teaching may contribute to valuable opportunities for learning how to engage primary school students. These findings have implications for the design of professional experience programs in ITE.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (ix, 199 pages) table
Spatial variability of δ15N and δ13C in symbiotic corals
No full textThesis by publication."Marine Ecology Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Sciences and Engineering, Macquarie University" -- title page.Bibliography: pages 43-50.Introduction -- Materials and methods -- Results -- Discussion -- Conclusion -- References.Primary production on coral reefs varies under changing conditions such as light and nutrient availability. Coral fragments and co-occurring macroalgae were collected along a depth gradient and at same depths around Hideaway Island, Vanuatu. The primary aim was to examine if there was a nutrient input around the island that could be detected in coral and macroalgae tissues using δ15N signatures. The second aim was to examine the effect of depth over the δ15N and δ13C signatures of benthic primary producers to investigate their nutrient source and trophic dynamics. The δ15N signatures did not show any trace of a nutrient input around the island. However, the chlorophyll a and Symbiodinium density from the coral Montipora stellata were the only indicators of a potential nutrient input around the island. Similarly, no effect of depth was found in the δ15N of the macroalgae, epiphytes, and Symbiodinium from Stylophora pistillata. The only effect of depth was a decrease in Symbiodinium density and in the δ13C values of macroalgae. We attribute these findings to Symbiodinium from S. pistillata, compensating for the decrease of nutrients as depth increases by decreasing the cell density but maintaining the chlorophyll a concentrations to satisfy the coral-host nutrient requirements.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (50 pages) colour illustrations, map
Accounting and society: a holistic perspective on corporate social responsibility
No full textEmpirical thesis."This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Accounting and Corporate Governance, Faculty of Business and Economics, Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance, Macquarie University & Faculty of Businss Administration, Chair of Accounting and Auditing, Catholic University Eichstaett-Ingolstadt" -- title page.Includes bibliographical references.I. Introduction -- II. Building a social empire? Managerial preferences, shareholder litigation, and corporate social responsibility -- III. Do customers affect the value relevance of corporate social responsibility reporting? Empirical evidence on stakeholder interdependence -- IV. Cultural rule orientation, legal institutions, and the credibility of corporate social responsibility reports -- V. Conclusion.The aim of this thesis is to provide novel and holistic evidence on why managers pursue corporate social responsibility (CSR). To achieve this aim, I conduct three independent but interrelated empirical studies. Motivated by endogeneity concerns and the lack of evidence on managers' private preferences (i.e., agency motives), the first study (Chapter II) examines how a truly exogenous increase in agency problems affects different types of CSR investment decisions. Using a natural experiment for identification, I find that an increase in agency problems causes managers to misinvest in immaterial CSR and overinvest in material CSR. This finding suggests that managers have an underling preference for building a social empire. In addition, I provide evidence that an increase in agency problems causes managers to issue CSR press releases more frequently, and these press releases have a more positive tone. This indicates that managers want the general public to notice their social empire. The findings of the first study contribute to the existing literature by providing more nuanced evidence on managerial preferences, offering improved identification of agency problems, and analyzing CSR press releases.Motivated by the inconclusive evidence on managers'financial motives, the second study (Chapter III) provides more nuanced evidence by accounting for customer profile differences. Using an interaction model, I show that issuing a CSR report has a positive effect on financial performance if firms address end-consumers (i.e., are a B2C firm) and their profitability level is low. In contrast,if firms addresses other businesses (i.e., are a B2B firm) and their profitability level is low, issuing a CSR report has a negative effect on financial performance. This finding contributes to the existing iterature by revealing that only managers of less profitable B2C firms have a financial motive to issue a CSR report.Motivated by the scarcity of research on institutional forces that push or pull managers to pursue CSR, the third study (Chapter IV) examines how culture - an informal institutional force - affects managers' decisions regarding the credibility of CSR reports. Using a multi-methods approach, I show that cultural rule orientation - that is, people's proclivity for adhering to rules, laws, and regulations - has a positive effect on several corporate decisions that determine the credibility of CSR reports (e.g., whether to receive external assurance). Path analysis and qualitative comparative analysis reveal that the direct effect of cultural rule orientation is much stronger than its indirect effect via legal institutions. This finding contributes to the existing literature by showing that culture is a powerful institutional primitive that motivates managers to issue more credible CSR reports.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (iii, 179 pages) graphs, table
Discovering key drivers of house price growth in eight Australian capital cities:1994-2017
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 41-42.1. Introduction -- 2. The user cost model -- 3. Data -- 4. Results -- 5. Further discussion -- 6. Conclusion -- Appendix.This study adopts the user cost of housing framework and uses dynamic models to identify the key drivers of real house price growth in Australia's eight capital cities between 1994 and 2017. The real mortgage rate and the real investment loan growth rate are found to be significantly associated with real house price growth. A 25 basis points increase in the real mortgage rate will reduce the long-run growth rate of real house price in Sydney by about 0.69 per cent per quarter. A 1 percent increase in investment loan growth per quarter will increase the long-run real house price growth by 0.95 per cent per quarter in Sydney. The results show that investor demands have a lot more influence on house price growth than compared to owner-occupied demands in most Australian capital cities.The study also discovers that the price-to-rent ratio and population growth have strong influences on real house price growth. For most Australian Capital cities, economic factors explain around 50 t0 60 per cent of the variation i the growth rate of house prices.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (43 pages) graphs, table
Sustainability management in energy consumption through optimised operation of HVAC systems in commercial buildings
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 67-73.1. Introduction -- 2. Background -- 3. Literature review -- 4. Aims and objectives -- 5. Methodology -- 6. Results -- 7. Conclusion -- 8. References.Sustainability is a multifaceted concept that is being discussed and considered in almost every aspect of our society today. One of the significant business sections where sustainable development could be considered is in buildings. As most activities in buildings are significant contributors in energy considering their size and operating hours, reducing energy demand plays an important role in a building's sustainability. Most of the energy in buildings is used by heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems; so high-level performance of an HVAC system is a critical factor in a building's sustainability.Building management systems (BMS), through using computer hardware and software, manage various functions of a building including but not limited to HVAC systems, which enables monitoring, controlling and optimising the operation of these systems that results in improving energy efficiency (Smiciklas et al. 2012).The aim of this research is to demonstrate the effects of an integrated and comprehensive HVAC operation in the reduction of energy consumption and CO2 emissions and to establish the potential for achieving a sustainable environment. In this regard, the performance of six chillers and three pumps, as most demanding components of a given HVAC system in terms of energy consumption, have been compared before and of after optimisation.Results show that through appropriate operational management not only the equipment life increase but a significant decrease in the greenhouse gas emissions also will be achieved.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (ix, 73 pages) diagrams, graphs, table