http://hdl.handle.net/11343/159 2020-05-28T10:45:52Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240278 Eramanis, Mark Louis 2020 Coagulation factor activity patterns in venom-induced consumption coagulopathy from naturally occurring tiger snake (Notechis scutatus) envenomation in dogs Snake venom-induced consumption coagulopathy (VICC) is an important syndrome resulting from snake envenomation. The prothrombin activator notecarin D is responsible for this coagulopathy in tiger snake (Notechis scutatus) envenomation. In dogs, the presence of this coagulopathy is used to assist with the diagnosis of snake envenomation and, in some cases, can produce clinical signs associated with a coagulopathic envenoming. There are subtle differences in this syndrome between dogs and people, particularly concerning the development of clinical signs. Chapter two reviews tiger snake envenomation and the consequent VICC in Australian dogs with comparisons to human literature. The VICC syndrome between the two species share many clinical similarities; the key difference lies in the significance of clinical haemorrhage in people when compared with dogs. A brief overview of coagulation and coagulometry is provided. Chapter three is a prospective observational cohort study characterising the coagulation factor activity patterns in VICC from naturally occurring tiger snake envenomation in dogs. The changes in coagulation factors in a study cohort of tiger snake envenomed dogs were compared to a healthy control cohort. Fibrinogen, factor V and factor VIII were identified as the most consumed factors and displayed the fastest recovery to control values. Tests of coagulation times (i.e., prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time) were similarly affected. Additionally, higher serum tiger snake venom concentrations were associated with greater reductions in factors II, V and VIII, and greater prolongations in both coagulation times. The elucidation of the consumption and recovery pattern of coagulation factors in dogs, contrasted with that of people, provides insight into the underlying mechanisms of tiger snake VICC and its treatment. This information can be used for further diagnostic and therapeutic endeavours. © 2020 Mark Louis Eramanis Masters Research thesis 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240277 Cust, AE; Drummond, M; Bishop, DT; Azizi, L; Schmid, H; Jenkins, MA; Hopper, JL; Armstrong, BK; Aitken, JF; Kefford, RF; Giles, GG; Demenais, F; Goldstein, AM; Barrett, JH; Kanetsky, PA; Elder, DE; Mann, GJ; Newton-Bishop, JA 2019-10-01 Associations of pigmentary and naevus phenotype with melanoma risk in two populations with comparable ancestry but contrasting levels of ambient sun exposure BACKGROUND: People at high risk of developing melanoma are usually identified by pigmentary and naevus phenotypes. OBJECTIVE: We examined whether associations of these phenotypes with melanoma risk differed by ambient sun exposure or participant characteristics in two population-based, case-control studies with comparable ancestry but different ambient sun exposure. METHODS: Data were analysed from 616 cases and 496 controls from the Australian Melanoma Family Study and 2012 cases and 504 controls from the Leeds (UK) case-control study. Questionnaire, interview and dermatological skin examination data were collected using the same measurement protocols. Relative risks were estimated as odds ratios using unconditional logistic regression, adjusted for potential confounders. RESULTS: Hair and skin colour were the strongest pigmentary phenotype risk factors. All associations of pigmentary phenotype with melanoma risk were similar across countries. The median number of clinically assessed naevi was approximately three times higher in Australia than Leeds, but the relative risks for melanoma associated with each additional common or dysplastic naevus were higher for Leeds than Australia, especially for naevi on the upper and lower limbs. Higher naevus counts on the head and neck were associated with a stronger relative risk for melanoma for women than men. The two countries had similar relative risks for melanoma based on self-reported naevus density categories, but personal perceptions of naevus number differed by country. There was no consistent evidence of interactions between phenotypes on risk. CONCLUSIONS: Classifying people at high risk of melanoma based on their number of naevi should ideally take into account their country of residence, type of counts (clinical or self-reported), body site on which the naevus counts are measured and sex. The presence of naevi may be a stronger indicator of a genetic predisposition in the UK than in Australia based on less opportunity for sun exposure to influence naevus development. Journal Article 2019-10-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240276 Aye, SM; Galani, I; Yu, H; Wang, J; Chen, K; Wickremasinghe, H; Karaiskos, I; Bergen, PJ; Zhao, J; Velkov, T; Giamarellou, H; Lin, Y-W; Tsuji, B; Li, J Polymyxin triple combinations against polymyxin-resistant, multidrug-resistant KPC-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240275 Huang, J; Li, C; Song, J; Velkov, T; Wang, L; Zhu, Y; Li, J 2020-04 Regulating polymyxin resistance in Gram-negative bacteria: roles of two-component systems PhoPQ and PmrAB Journal Article 2020-04-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240274 Bien, SA; Su, Y-R; Conti, DV; Harrison, TA; Qu, C; Guo, X; Lu, Y; Albanes, D; Auer, PL; Banbury, BL; Berndt, SI; Bezieau, S; Brenner, H; Buchanan, DD; Caan, BJ; Campbell, PT; Carlson, CS; Chan, AT; Chang-Claude, J; Chen, S; Connolly, CM; Easton, DF; Feskens, EJM; Gallinger, S; Giles, GG; Gunter, MJ; Hampe, J; Huyghe, JR; Hoffmeister, M; Hudson, TJ; Jacobs, EJ; Jenkins, MA; Kampman, E; Kang, HM; Kuehn, T; Kury, S; Lejbkowicz, F; Le Marchand, L; Milne, RL; Li, L; Li, CI; Lindblom, A; Lindor, NM; Martin, V; McNeil, CE; Melas, M; Moreno, V; Newcomb, PA; Offit, K; Pharaoh, PDP; Potter, JD; Qu, C; Riboli, E; Rennert, G; Sala, N; Schafmayer, C; Scacheri, PC; Schmit, SL; Severi, G; Slattery, ML; Smith, JD; Trichopoulou, A; Tumino, R; Ulrich, CM; van Duijnhoven, FJB; Van Guelpen, B; Weinstein, SJ; White, E; Wolk, A; Woods, MO; Wu, AH; Abecasis, GR; Casey, G; Nickerson, DA; Gruber, SB; Hsu, L; Zheng, W; Peters, U 2019-04-01 Genetic variant predictors of gene expression provide new insight into risk of colorectal cancer Genome-wide association studies have reported 56 independently associated colorectal cancer (CRC) risk variants, most of which are non-coding and believed to exert their effects by modulating gene expression. The computational method PrediXcan uses cis-regulatory variant predictors to impute expression and perform gene-level association tests in GWAS without directly measured transcriptomes. In this study, we used reference datasets from colon (n = 169) and whole blood (n = 922) transcriptomes to test CRC association with genetically determined expression levels in a genome-wide analysis of 12,186 cases and 14,718 controls. Three novel associations were discovered from colon transverse models at FDR ≤ 0.2 and further evaluated in an independent replication including 32,825 cases and 39,933 controls. After adjusting for multiple comparisons, we found statistically significant associations using colon transcriptome models with TRIM4 (discovery P = 2.2 × 10- 4, replication P = 0.01), and PYGL (discovery P = 2.3 × 10- 4, replication P = 6.7 × 10- 4). Interestingly, both genes encode proteins that influence redox homeostasis and are related to cellular metabolic reprogramming in tumors, implicating a novel CRC pathway linked to cell growth and proliferation. Defining CRC risk regions as one megabase up- and downstream of one of the 56 independent risk variants, we defined 44 non-overlapping CRC-risk regions. Among these risk regions, we identified genes associated with CRC (P < 0.05) in 34/44 CRC-risk regions. Importantly, CRC association was found for two genes in the previously reported 2q25 locus, CXCR1 and CXCR2, which are potential cancer therapeutic targets. These findings provide strong candidate genes to prioritize for subsequent laboratory follow-up of GWAS loci. This study is the first to implement PrediXcan in a large colorectal cancer study and findings highlight the utility of integrating transcriptome data in GWAS for discovery of, and biological insight into, risk loci. Journal Article 2019-04-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240273 Li, M; Aye, SM; Ahmed, MU; Han, M-L; Li, C; Song, J; Boyce, J; Powell, D; Azad, MAK; Velkov, T; Zhu, Y; Li, J Pan-transcriptomic analysis identified common differentially expressed genes of Acinetobacter baumannii in response to polymyxin treatments Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240272 Hussein, M; Karas, JA; Schneider-Futschik, EK; Chen, F; Swarbrick, J; Paulin, OKA; Hoyer, D; Baker, M; Zhu, Y; Li, J; Velkov, T The Killing Mechanism of Teixobactin against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus: an Untargeted Metabolomics Study Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240271 Schneider, EK; Li, J; Velkov, T 2017-12-01 A Portrait of the Sialyl Glycan Receptor Specificity of the H10 Influenza Virus Hemagglutinin-A Picture of an Avian Virus on the Verge of Becoming a Pandemic? Pandemic influenza is a constant global threat to human health. In particular, the pandemic potential of novel avian influenza viruses such as the H10N7 and H10N8 avian strains, which recently managed to cross the species barrier from birds to humans, are always of great concern as we are unlikely to have any prior immunity. Human and avian isolates of H10 influenza display the ability to rapidly adapt to replication in mammalian hosts. Fortunately, so far there is no evidence of efficient human-to-human transmission of any avian influenza virus. This review examines all of the available clinical and biological data for H10 influenza viruses with an emphasis on hemagglutinin as it is a major viral antigen that determines host range and immunity. The available glycan binding data on the influenza H10 hemagglutinin are discussed in a structure-recognition perspective. Importantly, this review raises the question of whether the emerging novel avian H10 influenza viruses truly represents a threat to global health that warrants close monitoring. Journal Article 2017-12-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240270 Dixon, J; Carey, G; Strazdins, L; Banwell, C; Woodman, D; Burgess, J; Bittman, M; Venn, D; Sargent, G 2014-10-13 Contemporary contestations over working time: time for health to weigh in BACKGROUND: Non-communicable disease (NCD) incidence and prevalence is of central concern to most nations, along with international agencies such as the UN, OECD, IMF and World Bank. As a result, the search has begun for 'causes of the cause' behind health risks and behaviours responsible for the major NCDs. As part of this effort, researchers are turning their attention to charting the temporal nature of societal changes that might be associated with the rapid rise in NCDs. From this, the experience of time and its allocation are increasingly understood to be key individual and societal resources for health. The interdisciplinary study outlined in this paper will produce a systematic analysis of the behavioural health dimensions, or 'health time economies' (quantity and quality of time necessary for the practice of health behaviours), that have accompanied labour market transitions of the last 30 years--the period in which so many NCDs have risen sharply. METHODS/DESIGN: The study takes a mixed-methods approach to capture and explain the relationships between work time and health behaviours. It combines: longitudinal analysis of temporal organisation of work in Australia, with the goal of establishing associations between labour timescapes and health behaviours and health time economies; an in-depth qualitative investigation of employee experiences of the perceived impact of their labour timescapes on 'health time economies'; and, a stakeholder analysis, will uncover whether, how and why (or why not) stakeholders consider health an important dimension- of work and industrial relations policy, and what efforts are being made to mitigate health impacts of work. DISCUSSION: The study posits that time is a key mechanism through which particular forms of labour market policies impact health. The labour market flexibility agenda appears to be operating as a time re-distributive device: it has supported the removal of regulations that governed 'the when' of working time and removed limits over the amount of working time, thus extending by many hours the notion of the 'standard' working week and forcing employees to adapt their shared or social times as well as their time for health. Journal Article 2014-10-13T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240269 Peel, J; Osofsky, H 2020 Climate Change Litigation Climate change litigation has grown exponentially in the last decade, paralleled by the emergence of a rich legal and social sciences literature assessing these cases. Building on a recent review in WIRES Climate Change, this article evaluates the growth of this literature and the key themes it highlights. In 2019, climate litigation literature experienced substantial growth, with a focus on multiple novel dimensions: new high-profile judgments; emerging legal avenues, types of actors, litigation objectives, and jurisdictions, especially those in the Global South; and additional interdisciplinary analyses. Just as in the underlying case law, climate litigation scholarship shows evidence of distinct but overlapping waves that build together in a manner similar to a harmonic chord. Even so, this literature has not yet engaged deeply with questions about the effectiveness of climate litigation as a governance tool, particularly in the context of the decentralized system formalized with the 2015 Paris Agreement. Journal Article 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240268 Cervantes Servin, Adrian Ixcoatl 2019 An integrated method for groundwater vulnerability assessment using a DRASTICL model and a green algae ecotoxicity test The world population could reach 9.8 billion by the year 2050 (UN, 2019). The rising world population presents the challenge of water and food security for human development. As a result, excessive use of agricultural chemicals (both fertilisers and pesticides) which in most cases are toxic not only for the humankind but also for the environment, is putting significant stress on the groundwater levels and the water quality. Groundwater (GW) pollution from agriculture is particularly significant in partially and totally groundwater-dependent ecosystems, as these ecosystems provide habitat for various endangered flora and fauna. Even though the importance of GW systems is well recognised, groundwater pollution vulnerability assessment models and groundwater pollution quantification techniques have experienced slight changes over the last 10 years and in most cases, the use of agricultural chemicals is assumed to be safe in the absence of sufficient data and evidence. The existing models produce an annual GW Vulnerability map and there is little to no monitoring of groundwater for these chemicals due to difficulty with identifying the representative samples and the high analytical cost. Therefore, this thesis aims to develop a novel approach to understand the seasonal variations in groundwater vulnerability and used the modified model to identify the representative sampling bores and also explores an algal ecotoxicology test as for the pesticides in water, that can be used as a fast and inexpensive pre-screen to identify samples above a certain level of toxicity for detailed chemical analysis. © 2019 Adrian Ixcoatl Cervantes Servin PhD thesis 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240267 Evans, Gretel Frances Rose 2019 Through Fire and Flood: Migrant Memories of Displacement and Belonging in Australia Natural disasters are a significant feature of the Australian environment. In a country with a rich history of immigration, it is therefore surprising that historians have not yet examined the specific challenges faced by immigrants within this hazardous environment. This thesis examines migrants’ memories and experiences of bushfires and floods in Australia. Drawing on oral history interviews and regional case studies, this thesis explores the entanglement of migration and natural disaster in Australia and in the lives of migrants. Oral history interviews with migrants who have experienced bushfires in Victoria or floods in Maitland, New South Wales, are at the heart of this study. This thesis contributes to scholarship in three distinct fields—migration and environmental history, and disaster studies—and brings them together through an examination of migrants’ memories of bushfires and floods in Australia. Although traumatic experiences, displacement, and a changed and challenged sense of home, community and attachment to place and environment are common themes of both migrants and survivors of fire and flood, rarely have the similarities between these experiences been noted. This thesis is not a history of natural disasters in Australia, nor a retelling of a history of immigration to Australia, but an exploration of experiences of ‘double displacement’. This thesis argues that migrants’ recollections reveal how their burgeoning sense of home, community and attachment to place and environment was challenged by natural disasters. It highlights how their experience of ‘double displacement’ contributed to a new sense of home and belonging in a natural disaster-prone country. © 2019 Gretel Frances Rose Evans PhD thesis 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240266 Maiti, S; Winter, S; Kulik, L; Sarkar, S 2019-01-01 Analysis of an Ad-hoc Platoon Formation and Dissolution Strategy on a Multi-lane Highway. Vehicle platooning has become popular in the recent Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) research. The literature typically assumes a planned formation and dissolution of platoons, mostly at source and destination. In contrast, this research considers platoons that can be formed on the fly. We investigate a greedy type of platoon formation with no particular order of destinations of the platoon members. This greedy formation allows a quick formation of the platoon but imposes an overhead of platoon rebuild cost when platoon members leave. The question arises whether this greedy formation and dissolution of platoons can preserve the original fuel benefit of platooning. To investigate this question, this research implements such a strategy and provides a generic guideline for fuel-efficient ad-hoc platooning Conference Proceeding 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240265 Weiss, ACG; Herold, HM; Lentz, S; Faria, M; Besford, QA; Ang, C-S; Caruso, F; Scheibel, T 2020-05-20 Surface Modification of Spider Silk Particles to Direct Biomolecular Corona Formation. In recent years, spider silk-based materials have attracted attention because of their biocompatibility, processability, and biodegradability. For their potential use in biomaterial applications, i.e., as drug delivery systems and implant coatings for tissue regeneration, it is vital to understand the interactions between the silk biomaterial surface and the biological environment. Like most polymeric carrier systems, spider silk material surfaces can adsorb proteins when in contact with blood, resulting in the formation of a biomolecular corona. Here, we assessed the effect of surface net charge of materials made of recombinant spider silk on the biomolecular corona composition. In-depth proteomic analysis of the biomolecular corona revealed that positively charged spider silk materials surfaces interacted predominantly with fibrinogen-based proteins. This fibrinogen enrichment correlated with blood clotting observed for both positively charged spider silk films and particles. In contrast, negative surface charges prevented blood clotting. Genetic engineering allows the fine-tuning of surface properties of the spider silk particles providing a whole set of recombinant spider silk proteins with different charges or peptide tags to be used for, for example, drug delivery or cell docking, and several of these were analyzed concerning the composition of their biomolecular corona. Taken together this study demonstrates how the surface net charge of recombinant spider silk surfaces affects the composition of the biomolecular corona, which in turn affects macroscopic effects such as fibrin formation and blood clotting. Journal Article 2020-05-20T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240264 Tjandra, KC; Forest, CR; Wong, CK; Alcantara, S; Kelly, HG; Ju, Y; Stenzel, MH; McCarroll, JA; Kavallaris, M; Caruso, F; Kent, SJ; Thordarson, P 2020-05-19 Modulating the Selectivity and Stealth Properties of Ellipsoidal Polymersomes through a Multivalent Peptide Ligand Display. There is a need for improved nanomaterials to simultaneously target cancer cells and avoid non-specific clearance by phagocytes. An ellipsoidal polymersome system is developed with a unique tunable size and shape property. These particles are functionalized with in-house phage-display cell-targeting peptide to target a medulloblastoma cell line in vitro. Particle association with medulloblastoma cells is modulated by tuning the peptide ligand density on the particles. These polymersomes has low levels of association with primary human blood phagocytes. The stealth properties of the polymersomes are further improved by including the peptide targeting moiety, an effect that is likely driven by the peptide protecting the particles from binding blood plasma proteins. Overall, this ellipsoidal polymersome system provides a promising platform to explore tumor cell targeting in vivo. Journal Article 2020-05-19T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240263 Kelly, HG; Tan, H-X; Juno, JA; Esterbauer, R; Ju, Y; Jiang, W; Wimmer, VC; Duckworth, BC; Groom, JR; Caruso, F; Kanekiyo, M; Kent, SJ; Wheatley, AK 2020-05-21 Self-assembling influenza nanoparticle vaccines drive extended germinal center activity and memory B cell maturation. Protein-based, self-assembling nanoparticles elicit superior immunity compared with soluble protein vaccines, but the immune mechanisms underpinning this effect remain poorly defined. Here, we investigated the immunogenicity of a prototypic ferritin-based nanoparticle displaying influenza hemagglutinin (HA) in mice and macaques. Vaccination of mice with HA-ferritin nanoparticles elicited higher serum antibody titers and greater protection against experimental influenza challenge compared with soluble HA protein. Germinal centers in the draining lymph nodes were expanded and persistent following HA-ferritin vaccination, with greater deposition of antigen that colocalized with follicular dendritic cells. Our findings suggest that a highly ordered and repetitive antigen array may directly drive germinal centers through a B cell-intrinsic mechanism that does not rely on ferritin-specific T follicular helper cells. In contrast to mice, enhanced immunogenicity of HA-ferritin was not observed in pigtail macaques, where antibody titers and lymph node immunity were comparable to soluble vaccination. An improved understanding of factors that drive nanoparticle vaccine immunogenicity in small and large animal models will facilitate the clinical development of nanoparticle vaccines for broad and durable protection against diverse pathogens. Journal Article 2020-05-21T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240262 Trape, R; Calamita, F 2019 Expanding Learning Spaces: Virtual Places of Learning in An Online Intercultural Exchange Project between the U.S.A. and Italy This article presents a telecollaboration project for the acquisition of a foreign language developed by Roberta Trapè, University of Melbourne and Francesca Calamita, University of Virginia (UVa). The project is part of the "Language Forward Initiative", a much broader initiative promoted by the Institute of World Languages ​​(UVa) to create immersive online programs that aim to expand the opportunities for male and female students studying a foreign language at the University of Virginia to interact with native speakers abroad. "Telecollaboration", "online intercultural exchange" or "virtual exchange" are definitions that are used to refer to intercultural meetings of learners who interact online, and to collaborative projects with partners who come from different cultural contexts and / or from different geographical places. , as an integral part of the institutional curricula. The "Language Forward Initiative" project between Italy and the United States will be developed in three years (2018-2021) and is based on a virtual exchange between 'Italian Studies' (UVa) and an Italian high school in Milan. The project created virtual spaces, parallel to the traditional space-time of classroom lessons, in which students have the opportunity to use and produce the foreign language and their knowledge in a meaningful context. The main idea is to lead the learners to a virtual and relational "other" space, in which they can examine phenomena and experience their cultural position while trying to enter the cultural world of others (Scarino, 2014: 391). American students and students have been associated with students who live in Italy to talk in groups of two by videoconference through Skype on topics selected by the teachers. The activities that take place outside the classroom in this alternative space have favored the development of foreign language interaction and conversation skills, but have also encouraged critical and comparative thinking and intercultural skills. The project will develop over the next two years in a virtual exchange based on issues of intercultural citizenship. Journal Article 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240261 Goh, Min Yin 2019 Development, prevalence and treatment of blood pressure abnormalities in spinal cord injury Disorders of blood pressure control arise from disruption of the autonomic nervous system and result in symptomatic orthostatic hypotension and large fluctuations in blood pressure. Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring is used in the general population for assessment of blood pressure control and to detect episodes of hypotension. In spinal cord injury (SCI), impaired control of the sympathetic nervous system leads to orthostatic intolerance and autonomic dysreflexia. Smaller studies in restricted populations have examined ambulatory pressures in SCI and observed abnormalities in diurnal blood pressure variation in complete cervical SCI. Altered diurnal blood pressure is associated with abnormalities in diurnal urine production and orthostatic intolerance in autonomic failure. This triad may also occur in SCI to explain the orthostatic intolerance. A retrospective examination of ambulatory pressures of patients with SCI referred for clinically significant blood pressure disorders revealed a high prevalence of abnormalities in diurnal blood pressure and urine production in acute and chronic tetraplegia and in acute paraplegia. To characterise the course of diurnal blood pressure, urine production and orthostatic symptoms in SCI, two prospective studies were performed. First, consecutive patients admitted with acute SCI were screened for recruitment, and consenting volunteers were compared with immobilised and mobilising controls. In the second study, people with chronic SCI (>1 year) living in the community were compared with mobilising controls. Compared with mobilising and immobilised controls, there was a high prevalence of abnormal diurnal blood pressure variation in SCI. The abnormalities were most prevalent and marked in higher and earlier SCI. Abnormalities persisted over time in both complete and incomplete cervical SCI. Abnormalities in high paraplegia were no different to that of cervical SCI in early SCI, but were no different to that of controls in chronic SCI. Nocturnal hypertension occurred in the absence of day hypertension in SCI, thus clinic pressures may miss elevation in blood pressures and ambulatory monitoring may be beneficial in assessment of blood pressure in SCI. Abnormalities in diurnal urine production were present and persisted over time in cervical SCI, but appeared to improve over time with thoracic SCI, mirroring changes in diurnal blood pressure. Orthostatic hypotension and orthostatic intolerance were more prevalent in SCI than in controls. Mild orthostatic intolerance is common in chronic SCI and a small proportion had more severe symptoms. A single centre study to investigate a drug treatment for orthostatic intolerance in the setting of a loss of diurnal blood pressure variation was unsuccessful due to low recruitment rates. As life expectancy increases in the SCI population, there is evidence of increased rates of cardiovascular disease. Similar to the general population, the loss of diurnal blood pressure variation and elevated nocturnal pressures may be a contributor to the increased cardiovascular disease in SCI, and thus a potential therapeutic target. Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring may be useful to detect these changes and examination of a larger SCI population with a longer duration of follow up for cardiovascular disease may help to determine this. © 2019 Min Yin Goh PhD thesis 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240260 Samararatne, WVAD; De Mel, N 2017 THE LAW’S GENDER: ENTANGLEMENTS AND RECURSIONS — THREE STORIES FROM SRI LANKA Our essay examines the recursions, rationalities, limits, and promise of the law drawing on three recent cases of women who encountered law enforcement authorities and the courts in Sri Lanka. It provides a strong account of how dominant gender norms are mobilized to determine who is afforded the sanctuary of the law and who is not. By foregrounding the troubled encounters of the women with the law the essay also demonstrates the ways in which the law, culture, and the state combine, pull apart, and recombine in a manner that draws attention to their own internal relations; and how procedures established to ensure legal objectivity and judicial impartiality often fold back on themselves, reflecting the pliancy of the law. The essay also foregrounds the conditions of possibility, including feminist legal methodologies, that enable women to (re)turn to the law despite its transgressions. In doing so it argues for seeing the law as multilayered and recursive, reflecting the thick and uneven conditions under which women access justice in Sri Lanka. In highlighting how these women challenge and bargain with the law, the essay also acknowledges their tenacity and endurance in what, ultimately, is an effort at demanding an improved and substantive justice. Journal Article 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240259 Samararatne, WVAD 2016 The Constitutional Council and The Independent Commissions: The New Framework for Depoliticising Governance Chapter 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240258 Nice, K; Thompson, J; Wijnands, J; Aschwanden, G; Stevenson, M 2020 The "Paris-end" of Town? Deriving Urban Typologies Using Three Imagery Types Urban typologies allow areas to be categorised according to form and the social, demographic, and political uses of the areas. The use of these typologies and finding similarities and dissimilarities between cities enables better targeted interventions for improved health, transport, and environmental outcomes in urban areas. A better understanding of local contexts can also assist in applying lessons learned from other cities. Constructing urban typologies at a global scale through traditional methods, such as functional or network analysis, requires the collection of data across multiple political districts, which can be inconsistent and then require a level of subjective classification. To overcome these limitations, we use neural networks to analyse millions of images of urban form (consisting of street view, satellite imagery, and street maps) to find shared characteristics between the largest 1692 cities in the world. The comparison city of Paris is used as an exemplar and we perform a case study using two Australian cities, Melbourne and Sydney, to determine if a "Paris-end" of town exists or can be found in these cities using these three big data imagery sets. The results show specific advantages and disadvantages of each type of imagery in constructing urban typologies. Neural networks trained with map imagery will be highly influenced by the structural mix of roads, public transport, and green and blue space. Satellite imagery captures a combination of both urban form and decorative and natural details. The use of street view imagery emphasises the features of a human-scaled visual geography of streetscapes. However, for both satellite and street view imagery to be highly effective, a reduction in scale and more aggressive pre-processing might be required in order to reduce detail and create greater abstraction in the imagery. Journal Article 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240257 Symkovych, A 2020-05-01 Negative visibility and 'the defences of the weak': The interplay of a managerial culture and prisoner resistance Journal Article 2020-05-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240256 Souisa, Hellena Yoranita 2020 Broadcasting Paradox? A Study of Content Diversity and Ownership in Contemporary Indonesian Television Independent media in a democracy is an arena where the exchange of a diverse range of information and views facilitates the formation of public opinion. It took the fall of the almost 32-year-long authoritarian regime before Indonesians finally experienced democracy in 1998. The spirit of democracy was reflected in the implementation of new regulations, which are more liberal and freer from government control. Departing from the principle of diversity of ownership and diversity of content, the implementation of the new laws resulted in a growing number of media outlets. Diversity of content is commonly accepted as a founding principle in communication policy. Discussion on programme diversity as a performance goal has been particularly lively and relevant in the case of television, as is well documented, for example, by Blumler (1991) and Napoli (1999). Accordingly, the principle of a wide range of programme options is typically included in national broadcasting legislation, and both public and commercial broadcasters have faced the requirement of diversity, set by the various regulatory bodies. But previous research in the Indonesian context has shown that this diversity of media outlets and content as an essential aspect of Indonesia’s new democracy has been threatened by various developments. The first threat concerns the issue of media ownership and conglomeration. The second threat to media diversity is political: Half of the media owners also serve as the leaders of political parties. This study examines the diversity of market structure and programme content of Indonesian television in the context of the 2014 legislative and presidential elections. Using a Critical Political Economy approach, it addresses two key questions: 1) Does ownership have an impact on television structure and content?; and 2) Do corporate connections to politics have an impact on television journalism? One of the findings is that television owners only endorse the idea of diversity if it can bring them profit, or further their political interests. © 2020 Hellena Yoranita Souisa PhD thesis 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240255 Masoomigodarzi, Saghar 2019 Designing New Singlet Fission Materials for High Performance Organic Solar Cells Singlet fission (SF) is the photophysical process of splitting one singlet state into two triplet states. The first requirement for SF is that the first excited singlet state of the chromophore should be at least twice the energy of the first triplet state. In the last decade, SF has received a lot of attention as a way of converting high energy photon above the semiconductor bandgap to two lower energy excitons closer to the bandgap and so overcoming the Shockley-Quiesser limit (maximum theoretical efficiency of photovoltaic cells) of single-junction solar cells. However, the number of SF materials that can be included in photovoltaic devices is limited because of strict materials requirements. This is the main reason why only a small increase in the efficiency of photovoltaic devices by including SF materials has been reported so there is a need to design, synthesis and study new class of material for SF. A new strategy to design a class of intramolecular SF (iSF) material is reported to be coupling two strong acceptors with low triplet energy level with a strong donor (A-D-A). This model not only takes the advantage of providing an excited electronic state with significant charge-transfer character that facilitate SF but also allows us to choose units based on the energy level requirement. Using this strategy, I have designed and synthesized the small molecule (BDT(DPP)2) and polymer (p-BDT-DPP) systems by coupling benzodithiophene (BDT) as electron donor and bisthiophene-pyrrolopyrrole-dione (TDPP) as electron acceptor with low lying triplet energy level. Various steady state and time-resolved spectroscopic techniques such as ultrafast and nanosecond transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy were used to study the excited state mechanism in the candidate compounds. In most of highly efficient SF systems, a large degree of crystallinity is required, and the SF yield is highly sensitive to the crystal packing and intermolecular nearest-neighbour coupling. The first set of A-D-A material revealed that a stronger self-association is needed to drive SF in this class of material. To address this issue, a self-organizing core such as hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene (HBC) is used as electron donor and is attached to TDPP as an electron acceptor and the results show a significant increase in the efficiency of triplet yield. It has been demonstrated that the chromophore packing has a significant impact on the SF parameters such as yield and rate and understanding this relationship will help us to understand SF mechanism better. To investigate this relationship, four perylenediimide (PDI) derivatives were studied for SF comprising the same PDI core but with different substituents at their imide positions, 4-butylphenyl, butyl-terphenyl, diisopropylphenyl and mesityl which display distinct molecular geometries with varied intermolecular pi-pi interactions. The results demonstrate that SF occurs with different rates and yields in the PDI derivatives. Also, the results show that both decay rate and SF rate are sensitive to intermolecular packing. © 2019 Saghar Masoomigodarzi PhD thesis 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240254 Beasley, Jesse Taylor 2019 A metabolic engineering approach for iron and zinc biofortification of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.): impacts on plant growth, grain nutrition and food processing Human iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) deficiencies are among the most prevalent nutritional disorders in the world and manifest as a range of health issues including fatigue, impaired cognitive development and increased mortality. Micronutrient supplements and fortificants are frequently used to increase human Fe and Zn intakes yet these strategies require continuous investment and frequently miss rural populations; improving the density and/or bioavailability of Fe and Zn in staple crops (a process known as biofortification) represents a powerful alternative. Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is cultivated on more land than any other crop and is processed into a range of food products to supply ~20% of the daily calories consumed by humans. The wheat grain is mostly comprised of starch and protein, with micronutrients such as Fe and Zn concentrated in the outer aleurone layer of the grain. In the aleurone layer, Fe and Zn are complexed to compounds that inhibit their absorption (bioavailability) in the human gut and the aleurone layer is removed during grain milling to produce white flour. White flour (representing the inner wheat endosperm) contains low concentrations of dietary Fe and Zn, and high consumption of either wholemeal flour or white wheat flour coincides with high prevalences of human Fe and Zn deficiencies. Generating Fe and Zn biofortified wheat through conventional breeding in modern wheat cultivars is hindered by inherently low grain Fe and Zn concentrations and a lack of genetic variation for these traits. Nicotianamine (NA) is a low-molecular weight metal chelator present in all higher plants with high affinity for Fe2+, Zn2+, and other divalent metal cations. In graminaceous plant species such as wheat, NA serves as the biosynthetic precursor to 2’-deoxymugineic acid (DMA), a root-secreted mugineic acid family phytosiderophore that chelates ferric iron (Fe3+) in the rhizosphere for subsequent uptake by the plant. Both NA and/or DMA are the major chelators of Fe within white wheat flour, and NA is known to enhance Fe bioavailability in cereal grain. For these reasons, increasing the biosynthesis of NA/DMA through upregulation of nicotianamine synthase (NAS) genes has emerged as a popular strategy for Fe and Zn biofortification of cereal crops. In this study we employed constitutive expression (CE) of the rice (Oryza sativa L.) nicotianamine synthase 2 (OsNAS2) gene in bread wheat to upregulate the biosynthesis of NA and DMA, and evaluate plant growth, grain nutrition and food processing properties of CE-OsNAS2 wheat. Our lead CE-OsNAS2 wheat transgenic event (CE-1) demonstrated higher concentrations of Fe, Zn, NA and DMA in wholemeal flour, white flour and white bread, altered distribution of Fe in the grain, and higher white flour Fe bioavailability relative to null segregant (NS) control. Protein composition, dough rheology and breadmaking properties were similar between CE-1 and NS white flour, and a chicken (Gallus gallus) feeding study over a period of six weeks demonstrated that chickens consuming CE-1 white flour had improved Fe status, intestinal morphology and microbial populations relative to chickens that consumed NS white flour. Multi-location confined field trial (CFT) evaluation over three field seasons demonstrated no differences between CE-1 and NS agronomic performance apart from plant height. Throughout all CFTs, grain yield was negatively correlated with grain Fe, Zn, and protein concentrations yet not correlated with grain NA and DMA concentrations. White flour Fe bioavailability was positively correlated with white flour NA concentrations, and we determined NA to be the strongest enhancer of in vitro Fe bioavailability identified to date. Together these results suggest the proportion of Fe that is chelated to enhancers of bioavailability (such as NA and DMA) should be prioritized in future crop biofortification efforts and highlight new strategies for developing Fe and Zn biofortified wheat as a more nutritious staple food. © 2019 Jesse Taylor Beasley PhD thesis 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240253 BLACKHAM, A 2015 Using the Delphi Method to Advance Legal Reform: A New Method for Empirical Labour Law Research? Chapter 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240252 Blackham, A 2016 Extending Working Life for Older Workers: Age Discrimination Law, Policy and Practice Drawing on qualitative expert interviews, statistical analysis and organisational case studies, this book illustrates the failure of age discrimination laws to achieve attitudinal change in the UK, and reveals the limited prevalence of ... Book 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240251 Blackham, A 2019 Re-Systematising Labour Law: Beyond Traditional Systems Theory and Reflexive Law? Chapter 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/239259 Aickelin, U; Tu, C; Bai, R; Lu, Z; Ge, P; Zhao, J 2019 Learning Regular Expressions for Interpretable Medical Text Classification Using a Pool-based Simulated Annealing and Word-vector Models Conference Proceeding 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/239258 Pickering, Christopher James 2020 Folio of Compositions A Folio of Compositions for the Master of Music (Composition), by Chris Pickering, completed between 2018-2020. List of compositions: 1. The Straightened Arrow - For Orchestra (11:49) 2. Ceiling of Clouds - For Alto Saxophone, Acoustic Guitar, and Harmonium (5:30) 3. Sous Le Tourbillon - Suite for Piano (24:52) 4. Splinters of Diamond Light - For Orchestra (11:26) 5. Lesser Heroes - For Flugelhorn/Trumpet in C, Trombone, and Electric Guitar (8:31) The initial creative concept behind the folio was to investigate how the composer’s background as a songwriter with a contemporary pop influence could be explored within the expanded palette of contemporary classical composition techniques. The intention in undertaking larger-scale and more adventurous compositions was to explore how the composer’s sense of form and structure through pop songwriting – and the prominence of melody – could be applied within the extended durations and timbral textures of writing for larger groups, in more nuanced pieces of chamber music, and the challenges in additionally mastering scoring and orchestration techniques for various instruments. © 2020 Christopher James Pickering Masters Research thesis 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z