Minerva Elements Records
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ItemFrom apology to truth? Settler colonial injustice and curricular reform in Australia since 2008(Taylor and Francis Group, 2024)This article explores how recent curricular reform in Australia has been responsive to a culture of redress. It argues that taken together, the 2008 National Apology to the Stolen Generations and the 2010 national curriculum reform marked a turning point, whereby settler colonial injustices have since been systematically included in the curriculum. This is explored through a case study analysis of the two iterations of the Victorian Curriculum: History post-Apology— 2012 and 2016—the latter of which remains in current use. Using discourse analysis methods, this article argues that the inclusion of colonial injustice in the post-Apology era signals a consensus that has emerged around the significance of representing injustice in history curriculum, and by extension, for shaping future citizens. Through close textual analysis of the curriculum documents, this article finds that representations of historical injustice have been organized by four frames: memorialization, equivalence, personalization, and human rights. It argues that these frames curtail opportunities for the development of an understanding of the structural character and effects of settler colonialism, and limit consideration of the longer history of Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination. These failures raise questions about how impending reforms might respond to the contemporary political context where treaty negotiations and formal truth-telling with First Nations’ polities are unfolding.
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ItemBarriers to implementation of sustainable construction in India(The University of Melbourne, 2023)Abstract: The Indian construction industry was estimated to be worth three trillion INR in 2022 and is expected to be the third largest construction market by 2025. The industry is responsible for a large amount of energy consumption, which not only contributes to the emission of greenhouse gases, but also adversely impacts resources like land, waterbodies, minerals, and other naturally sourced materials. Hence, implementing sustainable construction practices across the project life cycle is essential to reducing the detrimental impacts of the industry. Despite having 3 green building rating systems (GRIHA, IGBC, and LEED) and adopting certain national level initiatives, there is an absence of a systematic regulatory framework for the incorporation of sustainability principles in the Indian construction industry. It is critical to determine the existing issues that prevail in the industry to address the barriers in a timely manner. This paper determines the critical barriers to incorporating sustainable construction in India by reviewing the academic literature, Environmental Performance Index (EPI), and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2022 reports. Unskilled workforce, low productivity, lack of monitoring schemes, inadequate technology, poor team integration and collaboration are the key barriers that are deduced from the systematic literature review. The ongoing national level initiatives and schemes promoting multiple goals of SDGs are also identified. The administrative framework of the Indian construction industry includes ministries, state departments, local authorities, and regulatory councils. Every state in India has building bye laws that differ from those of other states and this has also been identified as a barrier. One of the solutions determined by experts and researchers is for the Indian construction industry to comply with the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. In order to accomplish that, policy makers, sustainable construction practitioners, and industry professionals must develop specific grassroot level mitigation factors to counter the key barriers.
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ItemPatent Grip: The Marketplace Making of Patent Law's Subjects( 2023-09)This work demonstrates that the grip of patent laws has to do with the development of market relations. It contrasts the core of patent law, namely, the concept of “invention”, with that epistemological form often cast as the defining “other” of invention, namely, the concept of “traditional knowledge” (TK). It finds that patent law protects a specific form of “invention”, namely, a discrete unit of commodifiable knowledge with certain characteristics that developed in reciprocity with the development of capitalist markets for intellectual things. The corollary is that those more ensconced in capitalist markets will more likely share patent law’s epistemology. Taking this insight, the work develops a theoretical framework to explain patent grip. At this framework’s core is the thinking of Soviet legal scholar, Evgeny Pashukanis, that law is contingent in the sense that it expresses underlying social relations. The development of a market for a given intellectual thing is connected with the development of a commodifying attitude to that thing in which people more readily perceive it, or additions and modifications to it, as a propertisable “invention” rather than some other form of knowledge. Thus, it is hypothesised that more commodity-oriented people are more likely to use and obey patent law, i.e., to have higher patent grip. This work tests this hypothesis using a case study of the extent to which, in southwestern China’s Guizhou province, TK-knowers, namely, traditional medical knowledge (TMK) practitioners, use and obey patent laws in respect of TMK. The case study involves a social survey of 53 mostly ethnic minority TMK practitioners, capturing, inter alia, measures of individual commodity-orientation (also called marketisation) and patent grip. Case study analysis finds: (i) statistically significant correlations between a TMK practitioner’s commodity-orientation and their patent grip; and (ii) a TMK practitioner’s commodity-orientation affects their treatment of knowledge, such that the more commodity-oriented are more likely to view TMK as a patentable “invention”. The work concludes that patent law is a historically specific phenomenon. It thereby counters the idea, pervasive in the patent literature, that individuals will respond homogenously to patent laws. Rather, this work demonstrates that, whether or not the introduction of patent laws will lead to patenting in respect of intellectual things, depends on the extent to which people are patent-receptive, i.e., the extent to which they have become patent law’s subjects. This work also undoes the idea that patent laws determine the operation of markets. Rather, it demonstrates that markets have a hitherto under-recognised role in determining the operation of patent laws.
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ItemPredicting redistribution of species and communities under environmental change: Improving the reliability of predictions across time( 2023-04)Ecological models used to forecast range change (range change models; RCM) have recently diversified to account for a greater number of ecological and observational processes in pursuit of more accurate and realistic predictions. Theory suggests that process-explicit RCMs should generate more robust forecasts, particularly under novel environmental conditions. RCMs accounting for processes are generally more complex and data-hungry, and so, require extra effort to build. Thus, it is necessary to understand when the effort of building a more realistic model is likely to generate more reliable forecasts. During my thesis, I investigated how explicitly accounting for processes improves the temporal predictive performance and transferability of RCMs. I first identified key knowledge gaps, and the challenges of evaluating temporal predictive performance and transferability. One of the main challenges is the lack of robust metrics to assess predictive performance and transferability. To address this I implemented and tested the use of new emerging tools to enable fair comparisons of predictive performance across samples with varying degrees of imbalance (e.g. species with low and high observed prevalence). I then tested a couple of hypotheses related to whether modelling observational processes explicitly results in better forecasts. In particular, I evaluated under what circumstances the benefits of explicitly accounting for imperfect detection and allowing information sharing across multiple species are retained when the models are extrapolated to generate predictions beyond the training temporal window. The findings should shed light on how to address remaining knowledge gaps, and how to generate more reliable forecasts on species’ responses to global change scenarios.
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ItemNo Preview AvailablePretty polyglot: parrotisation as the difference in repetition, again(Unlikely, 2023)This paper was written on Kulin Country — moving between the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri, Boon Wurrung, and Dja Dja Wurrung peoples. On Kulin Country, birds are powerfully symbolic: Bunjil, the creator spirit, travels as a wedgetail eagle, and Waa, the protector, travels as a crow. Even the humble parrots, as Wurundjerri knowledge holder Mandy Nicholson reminds us, are Bunjil's children, and they carry Bunjil's messages, for those who know how to listen.
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ItemDissecting the role of gd T cells in T cell priming for liver stage immunity( 2023-11)Liver resident memory T cells (TRM) are poised for protection against repeat infection and rapidly form a robust defence against tissue-specific insults such as liver stage malaria. A direct correlation between liver stage immunity and gd T cells has been observed both in mice (Zaidi et al. 2017) and in humans (Seder et al. 2013; Ishizuka et al. 2016), but the precise molecular mechanisms by which these gd T cells exert their protective effect are yet to be defined. In mice, intravenous injection with radiation-attenuated sporozoites (RAS) confers sterile protection against challenge with live sporozoites. This protection is mediated by responding antigen-specific CD8+ and CD4+ T cells that migrate to the liver and form resident-memory T cells (TRM). In the absence of gd T cells, protective CD8+ liver TRM are not generated, leaving mice susceptible to reinfection. Using Plasmodium-specific T cells as a readout for effective immunity, we determined that IL-4 is important for the accumulation of CD8+ and CD4+ T cells. By utilising complex in vivo systems including mixed-bone marrow chimeras and adoptive transfer of gd T cells, we revealed that gd T cell-derived IL-4 is crucial for the expansion of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells. In addition, in vivo neutralisation of IL-12 or IFN-g confirmed a partial dependency for these cytokines, despite their traditionally opposing function to IL-4. Given IL-4, IFN-g and IL-12 all have a clear role in CD8+ T cell priming following RAS vaccination, we hypothesised that IL-4 and IFN-g synergise to enhance cDC1 activity. These findings led to our development of a novel model to reconstitute cDC1-deficient mice using CRISPR-edited primary dendritic cells. This model enabled the investigation of the mechanism by which gd T cell derived IL-4 leads to DC activation and therefore effective CD8+ T cell expansion for memory development. Collectively, this project has shown a significant role for IL-4 in the priming of malaria-specific CD8+ T cells and demonstrates a novel pathway for collaboration between gd T cells, cDC1s, and CD8+ T cells, revealing the potential for harnessing gd T cells in vaccination strategies against malaria.
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ItemTerrestrial Lidar Reveals New Information About Habitats Provided by Large Old Trees(Elsevier, 2024)Large old trees have been described as keystone habitats for several species. However, current research does not fully explain why these species show a preference for such trees. In this study, we combined field observations of birds with terrestrial lidar scans and computational feature-recognition to describe habitats provided by trees at an unprecedented level of detail. We conducted field observations of birds at 62 trees and used parameters including branch angle, branch diameter, branch state (living or dead), and trunk diameter at breast height (DBH) to develop a generalised linear mixed model (GLMM) that could predict which types of branch birds are more likely to visit. We then quantified angles, diameters, and states of 78,006 branch objects representing the complete canopies of 16 trees. By combining these two models we predicted that large trees (>80 cm DBH) contained, on average, 383 m of branches that were highly suitable for birds (i.e., the predicted probability of observing a bird was ≥0.5), which was more than seven times the average length of highly suitable branches provided by medium trees (51–80 cm DBH). Only one of the sampled medium trees contained highly suitable branches. Small trees (<50 cm DBH) contained none. Our analysis provides new knowledge about characteristics that make large old trees disproportionately attractive to birds and presents a novel method of assessment that can apply to other complex habitat structures.
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ItemConservation of freshwater macroinvertebrates through molecular methods( 2023-09)Freshwater macroinvertebrates are a diverse group of aquatic animals that lack backbones, including insects, worms, crustaceans, and molluscs, with sizes larger than one-third of a millimetre. For over a century, this group has primarily served as an indicator of stream health, and for practical reasons, have been typically identified at the family level. While potentially suitable for generic ‘waterway health’ assessments, the recent evidence of the biodiversity loss within freshwater ecosystems globally, requires reliable methods that go beyond the family level to more accurately measure biodiversity, including species richness and composition within this group. To address this need, in Chapter 2, Marxan conservation planning software was used to analyse a dataset collected from 140 sites in Greater Melbourne, Australia, spanning from 1993 to 2009. Our analysis demonstrated the inadequacy of the family-level data analysis in assessing species-level diversity. Specifically, the minimum number of sites required to observe all families or all species in Greater Melbourne was compared to show that the use of family-level data leads to an insufficient sampling effort for the purpose of biodiversity assessments. Furthermore, the selection of 17% and 50% of optimal conservation sites using family-level data versus species-level data revealed that the use of family-level data would result in important omissions, jeopardizing the conservation of rare species in the Melbourne area. The adoption of DNA metabarcoding as a routine species identification method is advocated for biomonitoring, including biodiversity assessments. This approach offers greater insights into local and regional biodiversity values, facilitates the detection of subtle changes in site community composition, and reinvigorates the study of species-level taxonomy among freshwater macroinvertebrates. Subsequent studies in this thesis focus on employing molecular techniques to enhance our understanding of the biodiversity and taxonomy of critically endangered and poorly known freshwater macroinvertebrates. Chapter 3 aimed to improve our knowledge of the distribution of two endangered amphipod species, Austrogammarus australis and Austrogammarus haasei, also known as Dandenong and Sherbrooke amphipods, within the Dandenong Ranges, Victoria, Australia. While the previous delineation of A. haasei was well supported by the DNA analyses, A. australis was separated into six distinct genetic lineages. Three other genetically distinct groups were found outside of the Dandenong Ranges. Further research is required to taxonomically classify these lineages, potentially leading to changes in the conservation status and management priorities for these groups. This study highlights the value of DNA barcoding techniques for detecting cryptic species, particularly when these species already hold conservation significance. In Chapter 4, DNA barcoding was also employed to detect environmental DNA (eDNA) of another critically endangered freshwater invertebrate, the Mount Donna Buang wingless stonefly (Riekoperla darlingtoni), to potentially identify new populations outside its known range. The survey revealed two new localities located 2.5 km west of previously known populations, expanding the extent of occurrence to 0.37 square km, across a total of five localities. A significant decline in the abundance of the main population correlated with climate warming. This study demonstrated that eDNA survey methods are sensitive and reliable for detecting freshwater invertebrate species occurring at low densities and difficult to sample habitats, compared to conventional methods. These results provided the necessary data for a submission to list the species under the Australian federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) 1999. The study also contributed to a case to protect the species from a proposed development within its range and attracted international recognition to this unique and vulnerable species through the IUCN. Chapter 5 addresses the common challenge of associating aquatic juvenile and terrestrial adult life stages. DNA barcoding has the advantage of reducing the need for rearing juvenile stages by associating both stages through their DNA. Additionally, DNA data facilitated the examination of relationship among the species in this study. This approach was applied to associate larval stages with previously described adults and to redescribe the larval stage of the diving beetle Chostonectes nebulosus. An identification key to all known Chostonectes was constructed using morphological characters. The increasingly pivotal role of DNA methods in detecting and discovering freshwater macroinvertebrate species is highlighted throughout the manuscript. These methods are expected to greatly improve the assessment and management of invertebrate diversity, laying a solid foundation for making well-informed decisions in conservation management and shaping evidence-based environmental policies.
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ItemMarket microstructure and stock returns( 2023-07)Abstract This thesis explores the mechanisms that connect market microstructure frictions and stock return dynamics. It contains one literature review and two essays. The literature review provides a systematic introduction of the most important theoretical models and empirical methods in market microstructure literature, with a particular focus on their relations to the traditional asset pricing literature and implications for the stock price dynamics. It aims at providing the background information for the two essays and connecting them under a unified theme. The first essay documents the closing price premium (negative overnight return at individual stock level) in China’s A-share market, which reflects the preference of buying at the close for liquidity reasons induced by the unique T+1 settlement rule that requires stocks bought can only be settled and sold on the next trading day. Liquidity providers can use short-selling to circumvent the T+1 settlement rule and facilitate intraday round-trip trade. This study provides causal evidence showing that the closing price premium is reduced when the short-selling constraint gets relaxed. It shows that the bid-ask spread gets smaller with the closing premium reduction, a sign of liquidity improvement. This study enriches the short-selling literature and understanding of China's capital market microstructure by emphasizing how short-selling can aid in inventory management and mitigate mispricing due to regulatory frictions, such as the T+1 settlement rule. The second essay studies the stock return predictability from lagged order imbalance (OI) and its causes. It shows that the direction of the OI-based return predictability is time-varying instead of always being positive, as documented in Chordia and Subrahmanyam (2004). Two offsetting forces affect the predictability. First, a negative “inventory effect” in which the stock price reverses current price pressure as compensation for the liquidity provider's inventory risk. Second, a positive “order-splitting effect” where autocorrelated order imbalances and continuous price pressure are caused by the practice of investors splitting orders to minimize price impact. It presents empirical evidence supporting this view. The coefficient representing the sign and strength of the OI-based return predictability is larger for stocks with more institutional trading and smaller for stocks with less liquidity and higher inventory risk. Market-level analysis shows a distinct synchrony between the time series of the predictability coefficient and the VIX (the proxy for the inventory effect). This study offers an updated view of daily stock return predictability based on order imbalance and deepens the understanding of the mechanisms behind daily stock price dynamics by examining market microstructure factors, including strategic behaviors of investors with large liquidity demand and the liquidity provider’s inventory management practices.
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ItemDevelopment of Second Language Pragmatic Competence at Advanced Proficiency Levels( 2023-11)Whereas much of the research in testing L2 pragmatics has been concerned with learners from low to higher-intermediate levels of proficiency, this study examined the pragmatic performance of advanced L2 learners to identify some of the features that best describe advanced pragmatic competence. To do this, 45 advanced EFL teachers from Chile at B2 and C1 level of the CEFR performed four speaking tasks: two monological and two role-play tasks. Employing a CA-inspired methodological approach, the groups were compared in terms of openings, preliminaries, core action, posterior moves, and closings for both types of task. Findings agree with previous research indicating that as proficiency increased, advanced learners had more access to linguistic resources, successfully marked disaffiliative actions as dispreferred, and identified contextual cues to produce talk. Lastly, the results also suggest that some features of pragmatic competence and interactional competence can be elicited through monologic tasks.