A significant challenge for new media installation art is how to avoid overwhelming the audience with multiple modes, media, genres and interaction options that lack meaningful organisation and how to encourage critical engagement with social issues, with other audience members and with new media installation art itself. This project addresses these questions by extending to new media installation art montage as a principle for making meaning developed by the 1920s constructivist Soviet film directors Kuleshov,...

In nature bacteria predominantly live on surfaces, in matrix-encased communities called biofilms. Biofilm formation displays dynamic developmental patterns resembling those of multicellular organisms. Using cooperative traits such as cell-cell signaling, bacteria in biofilms form complex architectures, known as microcolonies, in which cells become highly differentiated from their planktonic counterparts. Microcolonies are generally highly tolerant to bactericides, rendering biofilms extremely difficult to eradicate. The aim of this study was to investigate the last, and least understood...

Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a significant infectious agent causing disease in immunocompromised HIV-infected patients, transplant recipients, and neonates. The current antiviral therapeutic strategy against CMV is limited in its utility due to the inherent toxicity and lack of bioavailability of currently available anti-CMV agents, ganciclovir (GCV), cidofovir (CDV), and foscarnet (FOS). The development of the prodrug of GCV, valganciclovir (val-GCV), has vastly improved the bioavailability profile of GCV. However, val-GCV demonstrates limited effectiveness against tissue-invasive...

This thesis examines the construction of ?Chineseness? by Australian-born Chinese through their interactions with mainstream ?white? society and Chinese diasporic communities in Australia. It represents an interdisciplinary study based on qualitative research and critical analysis of forty-three in-depth interviews with Australian-born Chinese whose families have resided in Australia for three generations or more. Diasporic narratives, fraught with contentions over belonging and difference, often lead to ambiguous ramifications of identity formation. While the notion of hybridity...

This research aims to delineate various modes and means of communication in the field of multimedia theatre and to relate this field of practice to contemporary debates in both theatre and media studies. This thesis defines 'multimedia theatre' in two ways: firstly to include performance where media technologies are brought into the theatrical frame as a feature of the mise en scene, and secondly to refer to the area of new media performance, where a...

As classical computers begin to reach their fundamental performance limits, quantum computers will be an invaluable tool for the advance of science and technology. The trillion dollar silicon electronics industry sets the perfect stage for the evolution of quantum computation, yet it has so far proved to be a tough challenge to implement all the elements needed to build a scalable quantum computer in silicon. This thesis presents the first experimental demonstration of the full...

Securing water in the right quantities at the right quality for the right price is a major issue around the world. Membranes are making an increasingly important contribution to meeting this need; however their performance is limited by fouling. This thesis reports on an investigation into the fouling of systems related to water treatment using the Direct Observation Through the Membrane (DOTM). The investigation focused on the measurement of critical flux and observation of particle...

Aims: This thesis examined non-adherence with methadone (MET), buprenorphine (BPN) and buprenorphine-naloxone (BNX), and evaluated the abuse liability of BNX in Australia. Key practices of interest included: diversion of opioid substitution therapy (OST) medications to illicit markets; injection of medication intended for oral/sublingual administration; and non-adherence with the supervised dosing requirements of OST programs. Methods: Data from Australian post-marketing surveillance studies of BNX (2006-2008) were utilised, including: sales data; surveys of people who inject drugs...

Antiretroviral therapy is the standard of care for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and current guidelines recommend the use of a combination of antiretroviral drugs (combination antiretroviral therapy, cART). This thesis describes clinical research that examined aspects of HIV disease progression during use of cART, immunological responses to long-term treatment with cART, and interventions for poor immunological responses during virologically successful cART. The body of work commences with an exploration of literature...

The aim of this thesis was to identify genes expressed in the heart during early mouse development, and to determine their function in mouse heart development. Microarray technology was used to expression profile the progenitor tissue of the heart, the mesoderm. A subset of genes identified as enriched in the progenitor tissues of the heart with no or little published expression data were selected for examination by whole mount RNA in situ hybridisation in 7.5...

Business processes are central to the operation of both public and private organizations. Recently, business world is getting increasingly dynamic as various technologies such as social media and Web 2.0 have made dynamic processes more prevalent. For example, outsourcing and the emphasis on customer service makes the use of complex, dynamic and often knowledge intensive activities an inevitable task. Ad-hoc processes, a special category of processes, have flexible underlying process definition where the control flow...

Nickel barrier layers are commonly-used in metallisation of silicon-based microelectronic and photovoltaic devices to prevent copper diffusion from metal contacts to the underlying silicon. This thesis compares the effectiveness of nickel barrier layers, formed using: (i) electroless plating; and (ii) light-induced plating (LIP), in preventing copper diffusion into mono-crystalline silicon laser-doped selective emitter (LDSE) solar cells. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy was used in conjunction with transmission electron microscopy for chemical identification of copper-rich regions in...

We analyse the properties of extrasolar planets, other close companions and their hosts. We start by identifying a sample of the detected extrasolar planets that is minimally affected by the selection effects of the Doppler detection method. With a simple analysis we quantify trends in the surface density of this sample in the Msini-period plane. A modest extrapolation of these trends puts Jupiter in the most densely occupied region of this parameter space, thus suggesting...

Gas sensors have been applied for a wide variety of applications in environmental and occupational health and safety (OHS) sectors. Current commercial amperometric gas sensors often suffer from short lifetime due to evaporation of electrolyte (e.g. H2SO4/H2O mixtures or organic solvents such as acetonitrile or propylene carbonate). Non-volatile ionic liquids (ILs) are promising electrolytes which provide a pathway to solve the evaporation problem in amperometric gas sensor. However the IL-based amperometric gas sensor suffers from...

Submerged electric arc furnace (SAF) is the major process in industrial production of ferroalloys, in which metal oxides are reduced by carbon. To decrease the production cost, a variety of carbonaceous materials is used including metallurgical cokes, chars and coals. Properties of these carbonaceous materials are strongly affected by the heating in the furnace. The project studied effect of heat treatment on properties of cokes, chars and coals (laboratory chars), including microstructure (XRD and Raman...

Words as material objects are at the centre of this practiced-based research. Translation, transformation and fragmentation underpin this work. The research explores, through performance and inherent performative actions, the relationship between subjectivity, language and translation in a society that is primarily monolingual. I maintain that words and language, and translation, as used in my art practice, can reflect experiences of difference in a multi-lingual world. My contribution to this assertion lies in an interdisciplinary zone...

This thesis presents data on two separate areas relevant to the prevention of HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) transmission in homosexual men. These data arise from the community-based Health in Men (HIM) cohort of HIV-negative homosexual men in Sydney. First, the association of circumcision status with HIV and STIs was examined. Older age, ethnicity and country of birth were demographic factors independently associated with circumcision status. Self-report was a valid measure of circumcision status...

This thesis presents an investigation and a framework for a cognitive load measurement (CLM) system based on eye activity, with the aim of allowing machines to understand human dynamic cognitive load changes, so that they can adapt accordingly during tasks. This is achieved by automatically extracting three types of eye activity captured from infrared (IR) webcams placed near the eye – pupil diameter, blink, eye movement (fixation and saccade); and building cognitive load models by...

Study Design / Objectives: To investigate whether non-viral telomerase gene therapy can extend cellular lifespan while retaining functionality of cells in a safe manner. Cellular lifespan, function, karyotypic stability and transformation properties were assessed. Furthered by the evaluation of human disc cell chemotactic potential as well as the recruitment ability of therapeutic growth factor, BMP-13, by the use of Boyden chamber assays. Background: Degeneration of the intervertebral disc is an age-related condition associated with the...

Body sensor networks are a key component in the emerging trend towards personalised healthcare monitoring and the mobile health paradigm. These networks consist of miniaturized devices, mounted on the human body that continuously monitor and communicate the subject's vital signs to a basestation device for real time viewing, sharing, and remote diagnosis by health professionals. Security is a stringent requirement as these devices communicate personal medical data, and mishandling can result in serious ethical implications...

Functional neuroimaging involves the study of cognitive scientific questions by measuring and modelling brain activity, using techniques such as Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and Magnetoencephalography (MEG). These non-invasive methods give indirect views into brain functioning: fMRI measures changes in relative blood oxygenation as a response to neural activation, and MEG externally samples the weak magnetic fields generated by neural activity. Additionally the data are corrupted by noise. So analysing the data from these modalities...

To date, more than 300 planets orbiting stars other than our sun have been discovered using a range of observing techniques, with new discoveries occurring monthly. The work in this thesis focused on the detection of exo-planets using the transit method. Planets orbiting close to their host stars have a roughly 10 per cent chance of eclipsing (transiting) the star, with Jupiter-sized planets causing a one per cent dip in the flux of the star...

During the last two decades in response to perceived victim dissatisfaction with criminal justice processes, legislatures in various common law jurisdictions have introduced contentious changes to established sentencing practices that enable crime victims to participate in sentencing hearings. These changes have generated uncertainty in relation to the proper function of the sentencing hearing and raised concerns that victim participation, especially by oral victim impact statements (VISs), is inconsistent with established legal values, detrimental to the...

The majority of gymnasts are young girls. Training hours required to meet competition demands are high and gymnasts begin serious training at a young age. Concerns regarding injury risk are substantial and may be the result of repeated high impact loads experienced during landings from dismounts, tumbling and vaulting. There is currently little information available to coaches regarding the quantity of training that is safe or not safe. The use of acceleration was tested for...

Land is the dominant base on which property is recurrently taxed in Australia. If the taxation of land is to be sustainable, then the value of land must be determined in a simple and transparent manner. This thesis explores the complexity of valuing land for taxation purposes, in particular, in highly urbanized locations where vacant land transactions are rare. The thesis proposes that land should be valued for taxation purposes on the basis that it...