4,362 research outputs found
Improvising with technology in a jazz context through composition, performance and recording
No full textThis project investigates the process of creating new works for two jazz trio ensembles, with a particular emphasis on improvisation with acoustic instruments and technology. Utilising a practice-based research model the project documents and outlines the conceptual basis for the work, reflects on a series of public performances and examines studio recording sessions. By analysing the musical content, use of technology, and the musician’s reflections on their decision making, the overall goal is to articulate the musical potential of improvising with technology in a jazz context.
Exploring technology and developing extended techniques towards a hybrid acousticelectronic “group sound” that is distinct but still recognisable as jazz, is a core focus of this research. Specific software, hardware controllers, and audio effects are identified, and an analysis of the ways in which technologies are engaged by each musician is presented. Artistic reference points identify current and historical practice within this area and a range of case studies give context for how the music created here is relevant to contemporary jazz in Australia. The resulting musical output is documented in audio and video formats and includes multiple performer analyses, enabling detailed examination by the reader of how each musician merges improvisation using acoustic instruments and improvisation with technology.
Ultimately this research has allowed two professional jazz ensembles to forge new musical pathways, creating expanded practical skills for the author and the musicians involved. This research will be of interest to jazz musicians seeking to broaden their practice through improvisation with technology. Additionally, the project is relevant to any reader/musician engaged with improvisation in contemporary music more broadly.Thesis (Professional Doctorate)Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)Queensland ConservatoriumArts, Education and LawFull Tex
Motor unit discharge characteristics in response to serotonin receptor blockade in healthy humans
No full textAll motor commands from the brain ultimately synapse on the motoneurones in the spinal cord to regulate the timing and amplitude of muscle contractions. The input-output relationship between command signals and motoneuron activation is relatively simple, whereby increases in the firing rate of the command signal cause a greater output response of the motoneuron. However, a complex parallel neuromodulation system is also present, where brainstem pathways release serotonin, otherwise known as 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in the central nervous system (CNS) to regulate the gain of motoneuron activity. The purpose of this project was to determine if serotonergic effects associated with muscle activation are dependent on the mode of contraction being performed. Healthy young adults were recruited into this study, where motor unit activity was extracted from high density electromyography (HDEMG) collected from the tibialis anterior during isometric dorsiflexion. Three modes of contractions were assessed: a rapid contraction to 30% maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), a slow ramped contraction to 30% MVC, and a sustained fatiguing contraction at 30% MVC that was held to failure. Each participant was tested under normal conditions (placebo) and a condition where 5-HT2A receptors were blocked in the CNS using cyproheptadine. The main finding of the project was that a blockade of 5-HT2A receptors suppressed discharge rate of motor units during a fatiguing isometric 30% MVC contraction of the tibialis anterior muscle. In contrast, there were no drug-related differences when examining the effects of 5-HT2A antagonism for shorter contraction times that were based on rapid contractions or slow ramped contractions to achieve a steady state. It is likely that the prolonged contraction evoked more release of 5-HT into the CNS compared to the shorter duration contractions, and cyproheptadine reduced the ability of 5-HT to excite motoneurons. This project provides a valuable foundation for future research that assessed pharmacological 3 intervention and motor function, as well as research that uses HDEMG to assess motor unit activity for submaximal contractions.Thesis (Masters)Master of Medical Research (MMedRes)School of Pharmacy & Med SciGriffith HealthFull Tex
LIFTMOR: Lifting Intervention For Training Muscle and Osteoporosis Rehabilitation
No full textOsteoporosis is defined by critically low bone mass or a fragility fracture. Physical activity has been proposed as a necessary lifestyle contributor to bone health, however, few exercise programs have demonstrated an ability to notably increase bone
mass. The bone response to exercise is highly dependent on the nature of applied mechanical loads. The most osteogenic activities are those that induce high magnitude strains at high rates or frequencies in bone. Under such conditions, only brief loading bouts are required to stimulate a response. Such strains are typically induced by weight bearing impact loading and high-intensity progressive resistance training. To date, high intensity resistance and impact training has not been investigated in postmenopausal
women due to a perceived risk of fracture and/or injury. Consequently, the primary aim of the current work was to develop a novel bone specific high intensity resistance and impact training program (HiRIT) for postmenopausal women to improve bone, physical function and risk factors for fracture.
The thesis comprises of four publications, presented as three published manuscripts and prepared for submission. In the first manuscript (Chapter 4), the preliminary bone and physical performance findings of the Lifting Intervention For
Training Muscle and Osteoporosis Rehabilitation (LIFTMOR) trial are presented. In the subsequent manuscript (Chapter 5), the final findings of bone and physical function from the LIFTMOR trial are presented. The LIFTMOR trial was an 8-month exercise
intervention of twice-weekly, 30-minute, supervised HiRIT (5 sets of 5 repetitions, > 85% of 1 repetition maximum) program. A home-based, low intensity exercise program served as a positive control (CON). Postmenopausal women with low bone mass were
recruited and randomized, stratified on presence or absence of osteoporosis medication use. Pre and post intervention testing included lumbar spine and proximal femur bone mineral density and geometry, and measures of functional performance. We found that
8 months of twice-weekly HiRIT improved lumbar spine and femoral neck bone mineral density and geometry and all physical performance measures compared to losses or minimal change in the low intensity home based exercise program.
Manuscript three (Chapter 6) presents changes in kyphosis and vertebral morphology over the period of the LIFTMOR trial. We found that 8 months of twice weekly, 30-minute, supervised HiRIT improved thoracic kyphosis more than the low intensity control exercise program. Furthermore, HiRIT did not induce new vertebral fractures or worsen existing vertebral deformities. The findings of manuscript three challenge traditional concerns that high-intensity exercise loading presents an unacceptable level of risk to postmenopausal women susceptible to fragility fractures from osteoporosis.
The final manuscript (Chapter 7) was a mixed methods qualitative analysis of LIFTMOR participant experiences and perceptions of the HiRIT and CON exercise programs. We observed that 8 months of supervised HiRIT improved physical activity enjoyment and quality of life. The qualitative analysis revealed that HiRIT was received positively, with participants reporting a sense of achievement, enjoyment of the group nature of training sessions and feeling stronger. Furthermore, HiRIT group participants were more likely to participate in the LIFTMOR trial again given the opportunity, to continue HiRIT after trial completion and would recommend HiRIT to a friend.
In summary, the current thesis reports the positive effects of a bone-targeted HiRIT exercise program on bone, kyphosis and physical function. Furthermore, the HiRIT exercise program was enjoyable. Based on these findings, we conclude HiRIT has the potential to be a safe, efficacious and appealing exercise program for the management of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)School Allied Health SciencesGriffith HealthFull Tex
The movement patterns of women's football: New insights and a focus on deceleration
No full textThe present thesis aimed to increase our understanding of women’s football to improve player preparation and on-field performances. The present thesis provided a comprehensive examination of the literature to update the current understanding of women’s football and identify the current gaps within the literature. Furthermore, the present thesis also aimed to further explore deceleration, an area that has been largely ignored when describing the movement patterns of football. The present thesis consists of three comprehensive reviews and two experimental investigations. The literature reviews focused on female football players and the contextual factors that are associated with the physical and physiological characteristics and the movement patterns of competition. Given the limited research surrounding deceleration, the final review investigated research based on football and team-sports in general to further enhance our understanding of deceleration. The two experimental investigations included the examination of acceleration, deceleration, and high-speed running profiles of players during international and domestic matches. The second experimental investigation examined a measure of deceleration ability that accounted for a players’ momentum (i.e. DECELindex) and determined if strength and anthropometric characteristics were associated with deceleration ability in female football players. Movement pattern data for the analysis of international and domestic matches was collected using 10 Hz GPS units. Fifteen players from an Australian domestic team and 18 players from the Australian women’s football team participated in the investigation. The investigation of DECELindex included 13 elite female football players who participated in anthropometry and physical performance testing.
The investigative reviews highlighted speed, power, and endurance as important characteristics for female football players. The ability to perform high-speed running and sprinting was associated with higher levels of competition and also specific playing positions. Specific characteristics advantageous to each playing position were demonstrated based on the requirements and movement patterns performed during a match. Results from the experimental investigations revealed that players competing in international matches covered significantly greater total distances, greater high-speed running distances and greater sprinting distances as well as spending a greater duration accelerating in band 4 compared to players in domestic competitions (p < 0.05). Lower-body strength displayed no significant correlation to absolute deceleration time or distance. DECELindex was inversely correlated to eccentric hamstring strength (r = -0.68, p ≤ 0.01). The findings of the present thesis demonstrated the importance of physical and physiological characteristics of female football players to be able to perform the movement patterns required during a football match. By developing fitter, faster, and stronger athletes these characteristics are deemed important and may allow for the team and individuals to play the way the coach desires.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)School Allied Health SciencesGriffith HealthFull Tex
Terrible Beauty: Ideology and Political Discourse in the Early Plays of Sean O'Casey
No full textThis thesis argues that prominent in the purposes of the dramaturgy of Irish playwright Sean O'Casey was the promotion of his political causes - most notably socialism. In his avidity for the cause of establishing a workers' paradise, following the Soviet model, in Ireland, his ire was drawn to the movements and institutions he perceived as distracting the masses from pursuit of this ideal: republicanism and the Church. These political ideals are prominent themes in his collected works - both fiction and non-fiction. The work is essentially divided into two sections. The first examines the development of O'Casey's ideologies - his socialism, anti-nationalism and anti-clericalism - and the backdrop against which they developed. The purpose is to establish just how passionately O'Casey felt about these ideals and how, in his letters, histories and autobiographies, he dedicated much of his effort to promoting them. Having dedicated so much time and energy to championing socialism and attacking the Church in these texts, it is little wonder they should appear so prominently in his plays. The thesis argues that O'Casey distorted the content of his Autobiographies to reinforce his role as self appointed champion of Dublin's "bottom fifth" and his beloved working class. It contends that O'Casey embellished the suffering of his childhood and the hardship endured by his family to fortify his credentials as a "socialist hero" - to be "for them" he sought to be "of them," and to provide a model for how learning and conversion to the socialist ideal would liberate them from the economic oppression that kept them low. A number of facts, even elementary ones like the number of children in the Casey brood and particular dates and addresses where he had lived, were changed to cultivate the working class hero image, the disadvantaged boy who rose up against all that an unjust and unsympathetic world could throw at him, that he so coveted. The more abject the origins, the greater the final triumph. The thesis then looks briefly at the origins and purposes of the Abbey Theatre, and its part in the Irish Renaissance that gave O'Casey his start. It focuses particularly on the role of Yeats, and his desire to build a dramatic movement which created work free from opinion. His famous determination to "reduce the world to wallpaper" brought him into conflict with O'Casey, who saw his plays as a legitimate vehicle for the expression of his own world view. It is important, in terms of the objective of this study, to establish that O'Casey's works were deliberately constructed pieces of didacticism, to demonstrate just how inimical to the original intent of the movement his purposes were. With this in mind, it is instructive to compare him with the other great Irish dramatist of the period, John Millington Synge, whose works, with their more rustic focus, promoted the kind of impressionistic 'slice of life' theatre the Abbey founders were championing. For O'Casey, the cause was paramount. He wrote morality plays. The study examines how O'Casey's dominant ideological position evolved by examining his own changing perspective about the world around him. It shows how O'Casey began to see all struggles in terms of the economic one between classes, and how he came to be converted to the tenets of socialism. His opposition to nationalism and his anti-clericalism essentially reflected his belief that they were hostile to the interests of the workers, and therefore must be engaged. The dominant sources in this section are O'Casey's letters, his Autobiographies, and his book, The Story of the Irish Citizen Army. The second sectio of the thesis focuses on the first seven extant plays: The Harvest Festival, The Shadow of a Gunman, Juno and the Paycock, The Plough and the Stars, The Silver Tassie, Within the Gates, and The Star Turns Red, and examines how each promotes O'Casey's causes. The purpose of the thesis is not to promote a reworking of the biographical detail of O'Casey's life, but to trace the shift in the playwright's ideology - from Protestant Orange to Republican Green and finally, and most steadfastly, Socialist Red - and examine how these beliefs found voice in the characters and construction of his earlier plays.Thesis (Masters)Master of Philosophy (MPhil)School of HumanitiesFull Tex
Assessment of paediatric foot and ankle deformities, and evaluation of current surgical interventions using contemporary gait analysis methods
No full textClinical management of foot deformity has a strong evidence base in the literature. Nonetheless, new technologies can provide additional information for treatment planning and evaluation of treatment outcomes. Indeed, clinical gait analysis methods
have evolved over the past 20 years and as clinicians translate new methods into clinical practice, they must determine whether the additional data supports, or opposes, current clinical management protocols. In the treatment of two common clinical deformities, equinus and equinovarus, a standard clinical management approach is relatively universal. Equinus contracture is treated with calf lengthening surgery, specifically to the Achilles tendon, which was popularised in the 1400s. Equinovarus, specifically in a clubfoot population, is most commonly treated with the Ponseti method, which has remained relatively unchanged since its development in the 1960s. In severe cases of clubfoot, tibialis anterior transfer surgeries for equinovarus follow the same protocols as described in 1940s. Whilst all of these interventions are thought to provide adequate results, new technologies present an opportunity to thoroughly evaluate their impact on gait outcomes.
The aim of this thesis is to utilize new and emerging methods of gait analysis to assess current surgical interventions for common deformities of the foot and ankle. Methods of analysis presented and utilised in this thesis include: (i) musculoskeletal modelling for estimating muscle-tendon lengths, (ii) analysis of foot kinematics using a multi-segment foot model, and (iii) integrated multiple region kinematic-pressure analysis methods.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)School of Health Sci & Soc WrkGriffith HealthFull Tex
Ensuring Corporate Misconduct: How Liability Insurance Undermines Shareholder Litigation
No full textShareholder litigation and class action suits play a key role in protecting investors and regulating big businesses. But Directors and Officers liability insurance shields corporations and their managers from the financial consequences of many illegal acts, as evidenced by the recent Enron scandal and many of last year’s corporate financial meltdowns. Ensuring Corporate Misconduct demonstrates for the first time how corporations use insurance to avoid responsibility for corporate misconduct, dangerously undermining the impact of securities laws. As Tom Baker and Sean J. Griffith demonstrate, this need not be the case. Opening up the formerly closed world of corporate insurance, the authors interviewed people from every part of the industry in order to show the different instances where insurance companies could step in and play a constructive role in strengthening corporate governance—yet currently do not. Ensuring Corporate Misconduct concludes with a set of readily implementable reforms that could significantly rehabilitate the system
Sean Rubin: Cook Prize 2025, Silver Medal Acceptance Speech
No full textAuthor and illustrator Sean Rubin gives an acceptance speech for The Iguanodon’s Horn (Clarion/HarperCollins)https://educate.bankstreet.edu/cook/1015/thumbnail.jp
The lived experience of professional mentorship and its implications for formal mentoring programs
No full textSchool-based mentoring (SBM) facilitates nurturing relationships between adolescent student mentees and older and more experienced mentors, often to address concerns regarding aspects of the mentees’ social-emotional development. Though there is a body of evidence that demonstrates the effectiveness of SBM in supporting mentees towards resolving these developmental concerns, our understanding of how and why it is effective is continuing to develop. The role of the mentor in effecting positive developmental outcomes, particularly in a professional capacity, is currently not well understood.
This study investigated the lived experience of professional mentors and the ways in which this lived experience shaped their conception and operationalisation of the role. Participant diaries, semi-structured interviews and follow-up interviews were employed as data collection methods in a hermeneutic phenomenological research design. The data analysis conducted for this study also employed a hermeneutic phenomenological method that developed a descriptive and interpretative account of the lived experience of professional mentorship.
Findings from this study suggested that the conceptualisation and operationalisation of professional mentorship is shaped by the relational and organisational imperatives operating within formal SBM programs. The elements and dimensions of these imperatives were seen to directly influence the lived experience of professional mentorship. While the findings of this small-scale study must be viewed tentatively, they will be of interest to mentors, youth workers, success coaches, social workers, teachers and the current literature on youth mentoring.Thesis (Masters)Master of Education and Professional Studies Research (MEdProfStRes)School Educ & Professional StArts, Education and LawFull Tex
Appropriations of Irish drama by modern Korean nationalist theatre : a focus on the influence of Sean O’Casey in a colonial context
No full textMy thesis explores how a translated author on the periphery of the host culture’s
translated repertoire can be at once subversive and innovative on the colonial scene,
using as an example the case of Sean O’Casey in colonial Korea. It explores the
importation of Irish drama in modern Korean theatre during the colonial period and
examines the appropriations of O’Casey’s plays by a central Korean playwright, Yu
Chi-jin, in creating his own plays. Under Japanese colonial rule in the early twentieth
century, intellectuals perceived the supreme task for the Korean people to be the
recovery of national sovereignty and independence. The modern Korean theatre
movement which rose among Korean intellectuals and dramatists during the colonial
period was to play a major part in this task. The ultimate goal of this movement was
to establish a modern national theatre promoting Korean culture and educating the
people, thereby recovering national independence. As their modernised dramatic
polysystem was still "young", Korean intellectuals and dramatists who were
involved in the theatre movement had to borrow dramatic models from other
countries. One of the models they chose was Irish playwrights, especially those who
were involved in the Irish dramatic movement. They published or staged the works
of W.B. Yeats, Lord Dunsany [Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett], Augusta
Gregory, J.M. Synge, St. J. Ervine, T.C. Murray and Sean O'Casey. Although
O'Casey was considered an important dramatist in the Irish dramatic movement, he
was a playwright on the periphery in the list of translated Irish dramatists in Korea
due to the colonisers’ censorship. However, he remained as a subversive and
innovative playwright on the colonial scene by virtue of being appropriated by Yu
Chi-jin who used O’Casey’s plays as models when creating his own works. In
discussing the subject matter of my thesis, I use Even Zohar’s polysystems theory as
a starting point in looking at ideological issues surrounding translation and extend
the discussion to offer a postcolonial perspective. While most translation in a
colonial context was considered as "an expression of the cultural power of the
colonisers," my thesis shifts the focus to translation as an expression of the cultural
power of the colonised. I explore how the colonised uses another colonised culture to
subvert the colonisers’ power
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