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Effects of temperature on macromolecular composition of the Antarctic diatom, Corethron pennatum
No full textThesis by publication.Bibliography: pages 45-53.Southern Ocean temperatures are rising due to climate change. Increasing temperature can alter diatom physiology and survival, subsequently affecting primary productivity and distributions. Diatoms are important primary producers and their composition mediates energy and nutrient transfer to higher trophic levels. Diatom physiology and macromolecular composition are useful indicators for demonstrating and modelling microalgal response to climate change. Using pulse amplitude modulated fluorometry and Attenuated Total Reflectance - Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, I characterised the physiological response and macromolecular composition of the Antarctic diatom, Corethron pennatum cultured at 0 °C to 5°C. The ATR-FTIR generated data were used to create spectroscopy-based predictive models. The photosynthetic capacity of C. pennatum decreased as temperatures increased, while all cultures eventually failed at 5 °C. As growth temperature increased, unsaturated fatty acid concentrations generally increased, and protein levels decreased slightly. Lipid levels were lowest at the coldest growth temperatures. These findings, particularly the unusual lipid unsaturation at the highest temperatures, show that C. pennatum physiology may differ from many diatoms. Additionally, the model demonstrated a high predictive power (R2 = 0.98), showing that macromolecular composition of C. pennatum is a useful intracellular marker that could be used to model microalgal response to climate change.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (60 pages) graphs, table
Effects of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and nutrient enrichment on freshwater plant species
No full textThesis by publication.Includes bibliographical references.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. The current status of exotic freshwater vascular plants in Australia - a systematic description -- Chapter 3. Responses of two invasive exotic and one native freshwater plant species to low additional nitrate doses -- Chapter 4. Growth, reproduction and functional trait responses of three freshwater plant species to elevated carbon dioxide -- Chapter 5. Responses of invasive and naturalised ornamental freshwater plant species to elevated carbon dioxide concentration and nutrient enrichment -- Chapter 6. Are interactions between the native Azolla filiculoides and exotic Salvinia molesta mediated by elevated CO2 and nutrient enrichment? -- Chapter 7. Discussion.Despite being extremely species-rich and highly threatened, freshwater ecosystems have not attracted as much conservation and research efforts as terrestrial or marine ecosystems, specifically in relation to global environmental change. Therefore, the overarching aim of this thesis was to examine the effects of rising atmospheric CO2 concentration ([CO2]) and altered nutrient conditions on a select number of invasive exotic freshwater plant species relative to their native and naturalised counterparts in Australia. Firstly, a systematic description to establish the current status of exotic freshwater plant species with reproducing wild populations in Australia was conducted. It was found that there are 63 exotic freshwater species with wild populations including nationally invasive species and species that are invasive in some states (declared weeds). Europe, South America and North America were the main sources of these species and the most important introduction pathway was the ornamental plant trade. The systematic description was then followed by experiments testing the growth, reproduction, functional trait and competitive responses of a range of species with contrasting invasive status to elevated [CO2] and varied nutrient conditions. In most cases, the results showed that elevated [CO2] and nutrient enrichment promoted plant growth either independently or in interaction with each other, and did not mediate competition between the tested species. Furthermore, the growth effects were species-specific and not strongly linked to the invasive status of the species. It can therefore be concluded that exotic freshwater plant species are an important component of Australian freshwater systems and their response to global environmental change is largely species-specific. In addition, based on the number of species that showed increased growth under nutrient enrichment, it is likely that it will have a more profound direct effect on the freshwater systems than elevated [CO2].Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (vi, 193 pages) colour illustration
Irish lives in the British Caribbean: engaging with Empire in the Revolutionary Era
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 325-352.Introduction -- 1. Engaging with the British Military: Irish soliders in the service of the Crown in the Caribbean -- 2. Commercial life: Irish planters and merchants -- 3. Administering the Empire: Irish participation in Imperial governance -- 4. Irish humanitarians: medical and missionary engagement in the British Caribbean -- Conclusion -- Bibliography.This thesis examines the Irish experience of empire in the British Caribbean during the Revolutionary Era by means of ten individual biographies of Irish sojourners. The thesis builds upon Irish historiography which addresses Ireland’s place in the British Empire, and also seeks a place within British imperial historiography, which has often neglected the role of Irish people in the Empire. Each chapter focuses on a separate social sphere—the Military, Commerce, Administration and Humanitarianism, and includes profiles of non-elite men. The thesis explores the relationship between the men’s Irish identities and the imperial structures within which they fashioned their Caribbean lives. For most, a connection with Ireland was important, but as the men were involved in an array of imperial projects, their Irish identity was just one of a number of interlocking cultural spaces they inhabited. The thesis interrogates how biography enables the historian to advance an argument about the past and suggests that combining a spatial approach with biography can provide thorough, multi-dimensional contextualisation. The thesis adapts the geographer David Harvey’s spatial model and analyses the absolute, relative and relational spaces the sojourners inhabited, and the tensions within and between those spaces. A close study of the spaces the men inhabited, the networks and exchanges that shaped their lives, and the internal spaces of their ideas and emotions, produces a nuanced understanding of the imperial world in which they lived, and their experience of empire. The Irish sojourners navigated family, mercantile and administrative networks, as well as broader British and trans-imperial connections in the region. Although not exclusively Irish characteristics, the men in this thesis shared a tenacious nature and the ability to withstand conflict. Many pursued trans-imperial opportunities and engaged with more than one empire simultaneously. Their experiences confirm the porous nature of imperial boundaries in the region, the contingent and varied experience of imperial rule, and the asymmetries of power that existed across different sites in the British Caribbean.1 online resource ( 352 pages
Inclusive education for all: development of an instrument to measure the teachers' attitudes
No full textEmpirical thesis."Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany ; Macquarie University Sydney, Australia" -- at head of title.Bibliography: pages 201-220.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Literature review -- Chapter 3. Methodology -- Chapter 4. Results-- Chapter 5. Discussion -- References -- Appendices.In recent years, the term inclusive education has played an unprecedented role in research and policies across the globe. It is relatively accepted to differentiate between a narrow and a broad understanding of inclusive education. On the one hand, the more narrow understanding focuses on the placement and the catering for specific students, such as those with identified special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). On the other hand, a more broad understanding of inclusive education incorporates views on the diversity of all students and supportive learning environments for all.In order to foster inclusive education for all, the literature suggests that it would be of vital importance to gain empirical data about the teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education for all. Yet, recent review studies have uncovered that particularly empirical studies tend to utilise a view on students with SEND and that there seems to be a lack of attitude measurement instruments that operationalise a broader understanding of inclusive education for all.Accordingly, the present study attempted to make a unique contribution to the field of inclusive education in that it reviewed a substantial number of studies and developed a new, sound and robust instrument to measure different facets of the teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education for all students. Teacher samples were drawn in Australia (n=146) and in Germany (n=238), and the data analysis revealed four dimensions of the teachers’ attitudes; namely, the vision, the differentiation, the general practices, and the supports as they pertain to inclusive education for all. The validity of the measurement was established and the final version seemed to be ready to use in further studies that attempt to utilise inclusive education for all, rather than for some.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (xi, 250 pages) diagrams, table
Understanding cycling: practices and experiences in Sydney
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 281-300.Preamble -- 1. Approaching cycling research -- 2. Situating cycling : mobilities, practices, emotions -- 3. Researching cycling : a methodological hybrid -- 4. Locating cycling : Sydney & cyclists in the city -- 5. Cycling practices : elements & bundles --6. Cycling emotions : feeling cycling -- 7. Reimaging cycling as becoming with -- 8. Conclusions and recommendations-- Afterword -- References -- Appendices.Cycling in highly-automobilised cities is perceived as a marginal mode of travel. Whilst it has well-documented health, environmental, economic and social benefits, little is known about how cycling is practiced, the content and meaning of the journey, and made a part of everyday life. Utilising the lenses of practice, emotion and affect, the study explores the qualitative experience of cycling in Australia’s largest city, Sydney. This includes the way in which cycling is enacted, performed, and sustained by people who cycle, and the way in which people who cycle make meaning through their cycling. I employ a hybrid methodology to record highly personal narratives of cycling, with a focus on the everyday journeys of people who practice cycling(s).The study has two key findings. Firstly, that cycling can be considered as a social practice but is also more-than a practice. The study finds that cycling practices are dynamic, flexible, enfolded into other/multiple social practices, and that people who cycle are not fixed in their cycling practices. Cycling practices develop from an active bundling of materials, meanings and competences that are not wholly related to mobility. Instead, cycling practices shift as they are enfolded into sporting/exercise practices, childcare practices, shopping practices, and working/study practices –serving multiple and overlapping functions.The second key finding relates to the emotional geographies of cycling, as the study finds that the multifaceted emotional and affectual experiences of cycling are embodied, relational, and extend beyond the journey itself. The study uncovers the way in which cycling becomes embedded in the way people navigate the city, but also the way in which they navigate relationships and make sense of their place in the world. Together, these findings contribute to a new understanding of cycling as a relational process of becoming. This notion of becoming with poses a significant challenge to conventional understandings of transport, and reimagines how mobilities and cycling are conceived of.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (348 pages) colour illustrations, colour portraits, colour map
Prosodic processing in people who do and do not stutter: Evidence from pause perception
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 60-73.Chapter 1: Introduction -- Chapter 2: Neural correlates of grammatical and ungrammatical pause perception in PWDS (Experiment 1) -- Chapter 3: Neural correlates of prosodic perception in PWS and PWDS (Experiment 2) -- Summary.Stuttering is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by frequent repetitions, prolongations, and pauses. Although stuttering is commonly viewed as a speech production disorder, recent evidence suggests that speech perception may also be affected, e.g. people who stutter (PWS) have been shown to process auditorily presented words and sentences differently to people who do not stutter (PWDS). According to the motor theory of speech perception, speech production mechanisms may in part determine the way speech is perceived. Since PWS’ speech production is impaired, it is possible that their perception of speech could be too. Recently, PWS have been found to have disrupted rhythm perception which has been attributed to aberrant functioning in neural timing networks. Given that speech prosody is comprised of speech rhythm and intonation then it might be expected that PWS exhibit prosody processing abnormalities. The aim of this project was to investigate whether PWS processed prosodic information differently to PWDS. To this end, prosodically expected grammatical pauses located at clause boundaries and prosodically unexpected ungrammatical pauses located within syntactic phrases were presented to a group of PWS and an age-matched group of PWDS while their electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded. Since existing data on neurophysiological correlates of pause perception was scarce, the first part of the project (Experiment 1) was dedicated to identifying neural correlates of grammatical and ungrammatical pause perception in a non-stuttering population. 40 participants listened to sentences that contained grammatical and ungrammatical pauses and watched an unrelated video clip. Event-related analysis of the EEG showed two time windows, -100-100 ms and 100-230 ms relative to pause onset, where the event-related potential (ERP) amplitude difference between grammatical and ungrammatical pauses was statistically significant. In the early time window, ungrammatical pauses were associated with a significantly larger positivity than grammatical pauses. This was unexpected as processing of phrase boundaries is typically marked with a large slow potential, the closure positive shift (CPS). In the late time window, ungrammatical pauses elicited an enhanced N1 response which was interpreted as a marker of prosodic violation processing. The time windows and regions of statistically significant difference were used to define time and regions of interest (TOI/ROIs) for Experiment 2. Experiment 2 compared ERPs elicited by grammatical and ungrammatical pauses in PWS and PWDS. Participants were 15 PWS and 15 age- and sexmatched PWDS. The experimental design was identical to that of Experiment 1. A 2x2 mixed factorial ANOVA test was performed on the mean ERP amplitude for each TOI using pauses (grammatical, ungrammatical) and fluency (stuttering, non-stuttering) as factors. The results showed that there was no significant difference in ERPs between stuttering and non-stuttering subjects in the early time interval. In the late time interval, a significant interaction between pauses and fluency was found. Stuttering participants produced a significantly reduced N1 response to ungrammatical pauses than non-stutterers. Responses to grammatical pauses were similar across both groups. This finding was interpreted as a diminished ability (at least at the neural level) in PWS to discriminate between expected and unexpected prosodic events during early stages of speech processing and attributed to partial failure to successfully predict prosodic elements in speech. Further studies are needed to determine the behavioural significance of these findings.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (73 pages) illustrations (some colour
Muratan, mahants and emergent identities: vernacular culture and the power of place in transgender Punjab
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 88-94.Introduction -- 1. The muratan of Punjab -- 2. Becoming kinnar : dwelling, community making, and renunciation -- 3. New places, emergent practices -- Conclusion -- Glossary of key terms -- Bibliography.This thesis articulates the various trajectories that transgender lives follow in the Punjab, India. The transgender identity of muratan marks the first part of this journey, as one riddled with exclusions based on class, caste, gender, and sexuality. Incontrast, the kinnars are relatively respected and revered in their capacity as ritual holders, an elevation that is dependent on the cultivation of place and strategic alignments with divinity that allow a transcendence of their sexual and gendered difference. By according primacy to place as crucial in the constitution of these subjectivities, I bring a new perspective to the literature on transgender identities in India. I explore the fluidity and exchange between the transgender identities in Punjab by contending that all of the identities on the transgender spectrum are shaped by dominant cultural mores, myths, and meanings, in that we may define them as ‘vernacular identities’. Furthermore I look at how the nature of emergent transgender activism in the Punjab is also an interplay between the old and the new, pointing to the centrality of vernacular culture, myth and religion in the constitution of subjectivities across the transgender spectrum in the region.1 online resource (v, 94 pages) colour illustrations, colour portrait
Engineered semi-orthogonal initiator tRNAs initiate translation at non-canonical start codons
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 44-48.1. Introduction -- 2. Methods -- 3. Results -- 4. Discussion -- 5. Conclusion -- 6. References -- Supplementary figures.Bioengineering is an emerging discipline within molecular biology. It involves the study,the design and the construction of existing and new biological systems through biomolecular techniques. Being a relatively nascent field, bioengineering faces numerous obstacles in its practice such as reduced synthetic circuit efficiency and control, reduced cellular viability due to the introduction of exogenous circuits and possibilities of biocontainment issues of synthetic designs. Incorporating orthogonality into the design of synthetic circuits has previously been suggested as a promising tool for overcoming these prominent obstacles within the field of bioengineering. Within this thesis, I have developed and built an orthogonal set of initiator tRNAs with the aim of achieving translation initiation from non-conical start codons. I designed and constructed 9 new mutant initiator tRNAs, through altering the anticodon region of the metY gene in Escherichia coli, and tested their efficacy through an anticodon-codon reporter system. I was able to observe successful translation initiation from most of these mutant tRNAs from non-canonical start codons. I believe the results obtained within this dissertation will act as a pilot study for future research, which will explore a more complete set of initiator tRNA variants.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (vi, 48 pages) diagrams, graphs, table
Ecology of the integron gene cassette metagenome
No full textThesis by publication.Includes bibliographical references.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. The biogeography of integron gene cassettes : a window into the protein universe -- Chapter 3. Final discussion and concluding remarks -- Appendix.Integrons are genetic elements that promote rapid adaptation in bacteria by capturing exogenous mobile gene cassettes. Recently, a sub-set of gene cassettes have facilitated the global spread of antibiotic resistance, however, outside of clinical settings, very little is known about the function and ecology of these cassettes. Here, I sequenced whole cassettes from soils sampled across Australia and Antarctica, and recovered 44,970 cassettes that encoded 27,215 unique proteins. This represents an order of magnitude more cassettes than previous sequencing efforts. Cassettes had extremely high local richness, with estimates ranging from 4,000 to 18,000 unique cassettes per 0.3 grams of soil. Gene cassettes exhibited a rapid spatial turnover and had a heterogeneous distribution across space. More than 84% encoded unknown proteins, 64% of which had no homologs in existing databases. These findings provide insights into gene cassette ecology, and highlight the diversity in this metagenome. This diversity can generate genomic complexity and drive bacterial evolution. I also explore the potential use of integron gene cassettes in accelerating the discovery of novel proteins. The gene cassette metagenome represents a huge untapped resource that provides an efficient means to shed light on the dark matter of the protein universe. This resource is thus of substantial biotechnological importance, particularly for developing small-molecule therapeutics and engineering molecular tools.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (42 pages) 1 ma
Exploring the feminist wave of higher education in nineteenth century Russia
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 75-83.Introduction -- Literature review -- Chapter One. The origin of the wave at the University of Zurich : how some Russian women rejected traditional structured norms through the pursuit of higher education abroad -- Chapter Two. Stretching her academic wings : how some Russian women sought different avenues to pursue higher education after the Zurich ban -- Chapter Three. Expansion of the wave : how the pursuit of higher education abroad led to a rise of feminist culture and engagement in society -- Conclusion -- References.During the second half of the nineteenth century, Russian society had changed considerably in that it had granted women the opportunity to pursue higher education, initially in Russia and later abroad after the university ban in 1864. Taking inspiration from nihilist literature, such as works by Chernyshevski or Turgenev, as well as feminism, which arose through the expansion of the Enlightenment, Russian women defied the traditional structured role of women as only wives and mothers, and pursued higher education because they believed that with a degree, it would grant them social and economic independence. It is through these actions, I argue, that Russian women have established a feminist wave of female higher education from the eighteen-sixties onwards, which preceded first wave-feminism.There are two reasons for establishing this period as a wave. Firstly, the women who initially studied abroad and received a doctorate, such as Suslova and Bokova, managed to inspire a generation of Russian women to follow in their footsteps. Secondly, the actions of these women after graduation in establishing an academic career, through performing experiments, writing papers, conducting field work or expeditions and teaching, serve as a testament that women were capable of working in an environment that was traditionally designated for men. This dissertation will use rationalism, to explore the motivations of Russian women who studied abroad, and post-structuralism, to explore how traditional nineteenth century Russian society began to change, as a result of Russian women pursuing higher education.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (iv, 83 pages