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Ontogenetic changes in spectral sensitivity and retinal topography in the retina of the yellowtail kingfish (Seriola lalandi) : implications for the global Seriola aquaculture industry
No full textThe visual environment of several aquaculture species has been shown to be crucial for increased survival and growth. However, very little is known about the visual system of the increasingly popular Seriola genus and its developmental changes. We investigated the ontogenetic changes in colour vision and spatial resolution in the yellowtail kingfish, S. lalandi and discuss them in relation to past behavioural feeding experiments. Microspectrophotometry was used to measure the spectral sensitivities of photoreceptor visual pigments in larvae and sub-adults. The yellowtail kingfish larva has a broad spectral range including ultraviolet-sensitive (UVS) single cones, middle-wavelength-sensitive (MWS) single cones, MWS twin cones and long-wavelength-sensitive (LWS) twin cones. The overall spectral range narrows during development through the loss of the LWS twin cones and a general short-wavelength shift in the spectral sensitivities of the other photoreceptor types. As a sub-adult the yellowtail kingfish also gains a short-wave-sensitive (SWS) single cone. This suggests that different lighting conditions will be optimal for larvae and sub-adults. No changes are observed in retinal ganglion cell (RGC) distribution between juveniles and sub-adults. A temporal concentric increase in RGC density and a weak horizontal band of medium RGC density (30% of the peak density) are present at both stages. This suggests that no changes in the feeding behaviour will occur throughout growth although the sub-adult possesses 1.6 times higher spatial resolution which would increase feeding accuracy at higher pellet densities. Research into the spectral properties of feed types combined with the data obtained here will allow for better contrast between prey and background by optimising lighting conditions.8 page(s
Short and long-term impacts of ultra-low-volume pesticide and biopesticide applications for locust control on non-target arid zone arthropods
No full textWhile locust control is necessary to avoid the high cost of locust damage to agriculture, land managers are increasingly seeking to minimize the environmental impact of pesticide spray treatments used. The comparative impacts of different locust control treatments on non-target arid zone fauna are rarely studied in the field, leading to uncertainty as to which treatments represent the lowest hazard to the sprayed ecosystems. A phenyl pyrazole pesticide, fipronil, and a fungal biopesticide, Metarhizium acridum (Green Guard®) were applied aerially in either a barrier or blanket ULV treatment at replicated sites which mimicked the techniques employed for locust control operations in Australia. Effects of the two pesticide treatments were compared in the absence of dense locust populations. We measured the abundance and community composition of non-target arid-zone arthropods at control and treatment sites before and after pesticide applications using a large field-based pitfall trapping experiment. Arthropod community composition was not significantly affected over time by either locust control treatment. However, significant short-term times × treatment interactions were found for 6 of 11 most common taxa at family or higher taxonomic level (collembolans, acarians, coleopterans, psocopterans, gryllids, and dipterans). We also compared unsprayed and sprayed areas within fipronil and Metarhizium treatment sites, and found 2 of the 10 most common ant species (Formicidae: Rhytidoponera mayri and Iridomyrmex purpureus) showed significant time × treatment interactions for fipronil but none for Metarhizium, indicating that ants were more severely affected by fipronil within sites than between the three treatments. One year post-treatment, significant time × treatment interactions persisted for only two taxa (dipterans and blattodeans) at Metarhizium treatments, indicating full recovery of most taxa. The suppression of the ant R. mayri in fipronil sprayed areas within treatment sites persisted after one year, while I. purpureus had fully recovered. Relative arthropod abundance and community assemblage changed over time in control and treatment sites, probably reflecting changes in patterns of local rainfall over the study period. Most of the statistically significant treatment effects recorded for different taxa in our study were not long lasting, suggesting that the two locust control methods studied represent a relatively low and transient hazard to most arthropod taxa. The pronounced temporal variation in arthropod abundance across all sites indicated that climate and environmental factors are likely to be stronger drivers of arid zone arthropod abundance and community structure than single aerial applications of low-dose aerial pesticide treatments used to control locusts in arid and semi-arid regions of Australia.11 page(s
Teachers’ perceptions and implementations of technology in EFL classroom: a case study of using e-books for EFL reading
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 57-62.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Literature review -- Chapter 3. Methodology -- Chapter 4. Findings -- Chapter 5. Discussion -- Chapter 6. Conclusion -- References -- Appendices.Technologies have emerged as a powerful tool for education. Teachers are the catalysts for integrating technology in the classroom. This study, by using the E-book as the most commonly used educational technology, explored EFL teachers’ perceptions and implementations of the technology in public and private primary schools in China’s first tier cities. A mixed-method approach underpinned the study by using both questionnaire and interview protocols. An online questionnaire on how teachers define and perceive E-books in their personal and professional lives was distributed, 155 EFL teachers responded. Follow-up interviews were then conducted with ten teachers to gather more in-depth interpretations and the reasons for using or not using E-books in the classroom.The results showed that EFL teachers have very different personal interpretations of E-books.The findings also revealed that basic knowledge and a positive attitude to CALL does not guarantee eventual CALL implementation in teaching practice. A number of factors that appeared to influence Chinese EFL teachers’ technology use were identified.The present study contributes to an understanding of the CALL climate in China, especially in the private EFL education sector. Although CALL integration has been addressed in China’s English Curriculum Standards and teachers have given the technology a positive reception, its implementation is still problematic and hindered by the school environment.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (76 pages) table
New perspectives on older language learners: a mixed methods study on the temporal self of young-old EFL-learners in Germany
No full textTheoretical thesis."Inaugural Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Philosophie des Fachbereiches FB05 der Justus-Liebig Universität Gießen im Rahmen eines Cotutelle-Vertrages mit der Universität Macquarie University, Sydney vorgelegt von Miriam Neigert (Dipl.-Fremdsprachenlehrerin) aus Schlüchtern" -- title pageBibliography: pages 219-234.1. Introduction -- 2. Who are the young-old -- 3. Self-concept, its temporal facets, and foreign language learners -- 4. Methodology, research design and research context -- 5. Numbers : the survey -- 6. Words : the interviews -- 7. Numbers and words : merging the quan and qual strands -- 8. Conclusion -- Works cited -- Appendices.Despite major demographic changes in recent years and in the future, a uniform view of adult language learners has prevailed in foreign language research for a long time. Young-old learners – the participants of my study – are an age group, which spans from approximately 60 to 80 years of age and is in a transitional phase from work-life to retirement (and beyond that time) and still shows a high interest in life-long learning. My thesis investigates how young-old learners perceive themselves as foreign language learners, by taking a closer look at their L2 self-concept and its temporal facets, i.e. their past, actual, future/ideal L2 selves. To do so, my research brings together concepts from gerontology, psychology, adult education, and foreign/second language research.I have utilized a mixed method approach for my research to gain a better understanding of the complexities of language learner self. Thus, my study combines and analyses a quantitative data strand (a survey study with 195 respondents learning English at German adult education centres; German: Volkshochschule) and a qualitative data strand (21 in-depth interviews with young-old English learners at a local adult education centre). The findings of the study indicate that young-old language learners’ priorities with regard to foreign language learning undergo a shift with old age and retirement. It is a shift towards an increased value of the social sphere in a language class, as well as the intention of defying the effects of ageing by learning a foreign language (and with it practising the long-advocated ‘lifelong learning’). Moreover, the study illustrates the importance of critical incidents abroad in the past as well as a connection to an L2-community when it comes to shaping young-old language learners’ degree of resilience and quality of an L2-vision (cf. Dörnyei 2014). With this, my thesis offers a new, more differentiated perspective on older language learners. Its distinct contribution lies in uncovering the importance of researching the temporal facets of their language learner self.The research concludes that two major influences shaped the developmental logic of national food provisioning over time — the extent to which domestic capitalism gained ascendency over traditions of localism, and the extent to which global logics took precedence over national policy autonomy. Historical and structural factors relevant to the initial subordination of agriculture to industry, the nature of state activism and agency, and the degree of national autonomy and ‘policy space’ within the global scene describe and explain the distinct dynamics of national food capitalism along alternative pathways. Food systems that developed out of the need to negotiate politically and socially the extent of the commodification of food provisioning as it was the case in France, came to be underpinned by very different sets of ideological and institutional arrangements than those where the integration of agriculture into the capitalist mode of production encountered less initial resistance.The thesis also proposes to distinguish national policy logics as a question of explicit or implicit emphasis. Just as France’s food policy environment makes the social relations of food explicit with well-defined systemic policy responses, the liberal economies of both the UK and Australia conceive the organisation of food provisioning in more implicit terms, creating a political distance between the policy issue and the sites of policy decision. Overall, the study confirms that today’s ‘varieties of food capitalism’ find their origins in the social and political dynamics present at the time of transitioning to a capitalist democracy, and finds little evidence for the convergence of national food policies.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (viii, 256 pages) table
Rigorous analysis of TM modes in arbitrary shaped closed and slotted waveguides
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 63-65.1. Introduction -- 2. State of the art in waveguide problems -- 3. Method of regularisation - theoretical background -- 4. Numerical investigation of the spectrum for closed and slotted waveguides -- 5. Conclusions -- A. Numerical results -- Bibliography.In this thesis, we use Method of Regularization (MoR) to analyse TM modes of closed and slotted waveguides. Cross section of waveguides can be of arbitrary shape assuming that a smooth parametrization is defined. MoR provides us with tools for transforming the corresponding boundary value problems to a functional equation of the second kind. We start with the standard integral representation of the total or scattered field as appropriate in terms of surface quantities. Using Green’s function approach, we obtain a first kind Fredholm integral equation, and convert it into a second kind Fredholm integral equation. The resulting system of infinite linear algebraic equations can be solved effectively using the truncation method, which produces algebraic systems with uniformly bounded condition numbers, when system size tends to infinity. This allows us to predefine truncation number to achieve desired accuracy. Using the connection between cut-off frequencies and normal eigenmodes of a hollow waveguide and the corresponding resonance properties of two-dimensional resonator, we adopt MoR to waveguide problems. We investigate physical features of hollow waveguides of various shapes. Finally, we provide numerical results which show the impact of slot width and wall thickness as well as the qualitative features of the method.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (ix, 65 pages) colour illustration
The limitation on fair trial rights in summary criminal processes: implications for Vietnam from the experience of England and Wales
No full textThesis by publication.Bibliography: pages 221-247.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2 (Article 1). Procedural proportionality : the remedy for an uncertain jurisprudence of minor offence justice -- Chapter 3 (Article 2). How may tiers of criminal justice in England and Wales? An approach to the limitations on fair trial rights -- Chapter 4 (Article 3). Due-process-evading justice : the case of Vietnam -- Chapter 5 (Article 4). The expansion and fragmentation of minor offence justice : a convergence between the common law and the civil law -- Chapter 6 (Article 5). Assessing the overall unfairness of limitations on fair trial rights in summary criminal processes : a remedy for the due-process-evading justice -- Chapter 7 (Article 6). A quest for due process doctrine in Vietnamese law : from Soviet legacy to global constitutionalism -- Chapter 8. Conclusion -- Bibliography.Minor offences account for the vast majority of criminal cases and for the most part they are subject to few of the protections of fair trial rights. The extent to which procedural rights can be limited in dealing with these offences is controversial and has not been rigorously examined. This thesis aims to investigate this issue in order to propose reforms to the Vietnamese minor offences legal framework, by offering and drawing upon a critical analysis of the experience of the United Kingdom (and in particular, the criminal jurisdiction of England and Wales). The analysis reveals a natural convergence between the cases of the England-Wales and Vietnam, concerning the expansion, fragmentation and due-process evasion of minor offence justice.Regarding a theoretical framework, this study seeks an account of crime and criminal processes that is most suitable for practice, and most compatible with the broad notion of a criminal charge under international human rights instruments. It is argued that minor offences should be considered forms of public wrong that warrant a short period of imprisonment or a non-custodial punishment. The fragmentation of minor offences into several groups calls for a suitable approach to procedural proportionality: The procedure for each type of offence should be proportionate to the severity of the punishment and should ultimately be fair as a whole. Procedural proportionality is endorsed as key for the constitutionality of summary processes.To assess the constitutionality of limitations on fair trial rights, the thesis develops two analytical tools, serving as prerequisites for the overall balancing of the proportionality test. First, it proposes a form of reasoning about three models of two-stage overall fairness and analyses their suitability for different types of offences. Second, it makes a suggestion about the inviolable core of procedural due process, the latter being comprised of several absolute elements of the right to a fair trial.As a contribution to Vietnam’s legal reform, the thesis analyses the challenges of incorporating a human-rights-limitation principle into the 2013 Constitution and argues for an extension of fair trial rights to minor offence justice. By examining the useful lessons of the English system, this study advocates the idea of treating minor offences as types of criminal offence, and embracing procedural pragmatism and procedural proportionality in Vietnam, rather than a due-process-evading form of justice.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (x, 247 pages
Cue utilisation in PM sensemaking
No full textEmpirical thesis.Running title: Cue utilisation in PM sensemaking.Includes bibliographical references (pages 193-212).Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Study 1 : sensemaking cues in project management -- Chapter 3. Study 2 : the utilisation of feedback cues and context cues in project management sensemaking -- Chapter 4. Study 3 : sensemaking through cue utilisation in disaster recovery project management -- Chapter 5. Discussion of the research presented.Project management has been defined as an exercise in the management of complexity whereby project managers are continuously required to cope with the intricacies and uncertainties associated with their projects (Baccarini, 1996). Effective project managers are constantly acquiring, integrating and comparing project-related information against shorter and longer-term goals. This process involves deriving ‘sense’ from a complex and complicated array of data—only some of which are directly relevant to the progression of the project.The capacity to ‘make sense’ of information from disparate sources underpins the process of project management. Although ‘sensemaking’ is recognised as a critical capability associated with project management, the existing literature is largely descriptive. Further, there is little exploration of sensemaking in the context of disaster recovery project management.The aim of this research programme was to develop and evaluate a measure of individual sensemaking as applied in project management, specifically in disaster recovery. Sensemaking was examined through the basic constructs of cue utilisation. The research aim was divided into three research questions and addressed through three corresponding studies.In Study 1, cues pre-empting sensemaking in the general context of project management were identified. Using naturalistic decision making (NDM) as a frame, overt and difficult-to-articulate cues (Kahneman & Klein, 2009) that serve to guide skilled project managers were established. Cognitive interviews were conducted using cognitive task analysis (CTA) and applying the critical incident technique (CIT), where the participants were asked to recall critical project incidents that threatened the progression and outcomes of their respective projects. The critical incidents served as units of analysis in the extraction of the cues. The outcomes revealed three categories of cues that aided project management sensemaking: feedback cues, context cues and tacit knowledge.In Study 2, the cues identified during the cognitive interviews were tested to ensure that they constituted valid representations of cues that are used in the project management domain. The cues were examined in relation to project-specific constructs, including project complexity and stages of project management (initiation, execution and closing). An online survey was distributed to participants with and without experience in project management. Statistically significant differences were evident in the perceived utilisation of cues where inexperienced project managers demonstrated relatively greater perceived utilisation and discrimination in the use of cues in comparison to the naïve cohort. The results provided support for the validity of the sensemaking cues that were identified in Study 1.Finally, Study 3 was designed to evaluate a measure of cue utilisation in the context of disaster recovery project management. Cue utilisation was measured based on four component tasks: cue identification, cue association, cue discrimination and cue prioritisation. Statistically significant differences in performance were evident between naïve and non-naïve groups in cue identification, cue association and cue prioritisation.This research programme provides empirical support for the role of cue utilisation as a fundamental cognitive process in project management sensemaking. Conceptually, it has established, for the first time, the role of cue utilisation in disaster recovery project management. It also demonstrates associations between sensemaking, project complexity and the progression of projects. At a practical level, this research provides an empirical basis for training and assessment in cue identification and utilisation.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (242 pages illustration
An empowerment framework for developing mobile-based applications: empowering Sri Lankan farmers in their livelihood activities
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 198-210.1. Introduction -- 2. Background and related literature -- 3. Research methodology -- 4. Towards an empowerment framework -- 6. Evakuation of empowerment framework -- 7. Conclusions -- 8. References -- Appendices.This thesis presents an empowerment framework, the aim of which is to underpin development of mobile-based applications that empower users in their livelihood activities. The work was carried out as part of an international collaborative project to develop a Mobile Based Information System (MBIS) for farmers in Sri Lanka. The project explored ways to overcome agriculture over-production problems. Due to lack of access to real-time, complete and relevant information, farmers often make poor decisions in their livelihood activities. Farmers only come to know, or realise, there is an oversupply when they bring their harvest to the market, and the oversupply reduces market price for the harvest, disadvantaging the farmers. Neither the farmers nor government agencies can make the necessary adjustments for lack of timely information regarding what farmers plan to cultivate, or have cultivated.A mobile-based solution was used to solve this problem due to the high mobile penetration and affordable internet connections in Sri Lanka. Many mobile-based applications have been developed for agriculture domain. Undoubtedly, these solutions have enabled improved efficiency, competitiveness, productivity and income in many sectors of the economy, including agriculture. However, these applications only support part of the farming cycle and none of the projects explicitly address empowerment or how to motivate the targeted users to utilise the technology to its full potential.The research aimed to address this gap by developing an empowerment framework that can be used to develop mobile-based artefacts. A Design Science Research methodology was selected to develop the empowerment framework because it is well suited for designing innovative artefacts. Two field trials were carried out in 2012 and 2013 to understand the goals of the farmers, obstacles they face in the agriculture environment, how they make decisions and what technology they use. From these insights and the knowledge gained through learning empowerment and related theory, an empowerment framework was developed.The empowerment framework was used to develop an empowerment model with empowerment-oriented processes in the MBIS. These processes are embedded with choices and different types of customised knowledge to support meaningful and informed decision making. This was followed by designing mobile interfaces for easy navigation through the application.To evaluate the effectiveness of the empowerment framework on which the MBIS was developed, two further field trials were carried out to capture before and after data. In March 2015, at the beginning of a farming cycle, the MBIS was deployed and the farmers were provided with smart mobile phones to access the MBIS during their farming session. At the end of the farming season in September 2015, farmers met the researchers again. A questionnaire that was designed to measure the empowerment outcomes was used to gather data at the beginning and the end of the farming cycle. This data was analysed to determine the impact of the MBIS on empowerment outcomes of the farmers during the farming cycle.The data was analysed to determine the impact of the MBIS on the empowerment outcomes, such as self-efficacy, sense of control and motivation, of farmers. The analyses revealed a statistically significant positive change of empowerment levels for most farmers. The average increase of the empowerment levels for the group because of using the MBIS were; 25% in self-efficacy, 11% in sense of control and 6% in motivation. The results also showed some significant correlations between empowerment outcomes of farmers. This supports the established theory on the relationships of the empowerment outcomes. The usage of the MBIS was further analysed by using the logs of various activities farmers carried out on the application. These showed that there was a significant correlation between how farmers used the application and behaviour which is dependent on motivation, self-belief and ability. These results validated the correctness of the empowerment framework.The impact and generalizability of the framework and artefact is evident. The MBIS has been adopted by the Sri Lankan Government and gained the attention of the Indian Government. Others are employing the framework in new agricultural contexts such as dairy production and in the health domain to empower diabetic patients. It is hoped and anticipated that the empowerment framework used for designing the MBIS in this thesis will improve the livelihood and daily life of many not only in developing countries and beyond.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (xxiii, 251 pages) diagrams, graphs, table
The systematic elements underlying the expression of futurity in English: an ESL perspective
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 286-306.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Literature review of ESL texts -- Chapter 3. Concepts of time, tense and aspect -- Chapter 4. Matters of futurity -- Chapter 5. Futurity forms -- Chapter 6. A selection of teaching proposals -- Chapter 7. Concluding comments.The acquisition of the English Tense/Aspect (TA) system has long been identified as a source of ongoing difficulty for students of English as a Second Language (ESL). It is particularly complex where futurity is concerned, given the ten or more means of conveying eventualities in this temporal zone. A review of ten ESL grammar texts indicates that students are often led to believe that some futurity forms are interchangeable. A further problem is seen in the common ‘silo’ approach that fails to distinguish between the meaning/s and use/s of forms, thus allowing a confusing degree of implied overlap to remain unaddressed. The goal of this theoretical research is to explicate and disambiguate six futurity forms by means of a set of ten criteria aimed at creating an individual profile for each structure. These are meaning/use, temporality, modality, context/genre, aspect, schedulability and pre-determinability, agency, locus of control, register, and the possible requirement of a temporal adverbial. The findings here indicate that no two futurity forms are interchangeable. Moving beyond the notion that temporal location and grammatical rules can account for the range of forms available, central to this discussion is the primacy of speaker perspective. In other words, the speaker brings a perspective to any utterance, which allows for a degree of structural choice. Given the inherently unactualised nature of the future, they have a range of available viewpoints on any propositional content, e.g., ranging from strong epistemic force to weak prediction, or from a sense of personal control to one of externally imposed agency. This research claims that an understanding of English tense and aspect must address the concepts underlying the system as a whole, most especially those not easily discernible from input. The purpose here is ultimately to ease students’ learning load by creating six individual futurity-form profiles, so that ESL students can disambiguate these structures and move beyond the common belief that will + V is the default means of communicating future propositions. It is hoped that this will contribute towards enabling learners to create and access future temporal meaning accurately and effectively, i.e., assist them in taking possession of the English language and expressing their own meaning.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (xvi, 309 pages) illustration
The role beliefs about language use play in the social construction of the EFL classroom
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 220-238.Chapter One. Getting serious, getting started -- Chapter Two. Monolingual assumptions and multilingual realities -- Chapter Three. Theoretical framework -- Chapter Four. Research design -- Chapter Five. Tracing the formation of assumptions, attitudes and beliefs about L1 and TL use in the classroom -- Chapter Six. The role of classroom language in the social construction of the classroom -- Chapter Seven. The influence of beliefs on the social construction of the classroom -- Chapter Eight. Conclusion -- References -- Appendices.This thesis presents an examination of the beliefs that non- native English speaker teachers had about using the first language (L1) and target language (TL) when teaching English, and how these beliefs influenced the social construction of the English classroom. The central idea for the thesis arose during the author's time as a teacher trainer in South Korea. During this time, it was noticed that despite government mandates supporting an English only approach to English learning, teachers were still reluctant to exclude their L1 completely. To investigate why teachers were resisting government mandates, beliefs were explored via a two-step series of intervirews which separated the development of beliefs into discrete stages to reveal the different influences acting on the formation of these beliefs. The stages were divided into initial assumptions about language use, tentative attitudes, and then firmer beliefs. Important influences that acted upon the participants included the language use of their own language teachers, when they attended training courses which espoused L1 exclusion theories, the influence of students in the classroom, as well as institutional influences. Once these beliefs were revealed, they were then linked to the classroom actions of the participants via an analysis of their classroom language use. This analysis employed a theoretical framework which had Basil Berstein's sociological theories of pedagogic discourse at its core. This framework revealed how teachers' beliefs influenced the recontextualization of teaching materials into the classroom, chamging the nature of the original social and power relations from the appropriated discourse with new, virtual-social and power relations of the classroom. It established that participants with strong beliefs about maximizing English exposure often positioned students so that they had less opportunity to assist in the co-construction of the learning environment compared to participants who valued a larger role for the L1.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (267 pages