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Challenges and Prospect of Maintaining Rongga: an Ethnographic Report
21 October 2005
University of Sydney

Arka, I Wayan

Changes in the ‘ecology of languages’ after the independence of Indonesia have resulted in changes in the social, cultural and economic settings. These changes in turn have affected the well-being of indigenous languages and cultures right across the Indonesian archipelago. This has particularly been the case in the last thirty years under the harsh campaign of Indonesianisation through the rhetoric of pembangunan (development) in the New Order era of Soeharto’s regime. Smaller indigenous languages such as Rongga, a minority language on the island of Flores, are particularly vulnerable.
Economic Analysis of Improving Cold Tolerance in Rice in Australia
03 November 2005
University of Sydney

Singh, Rajinder;Brennan, John P;Farrell, Tim;Williams, Robert;Lewin, Laurie;Mullen, John

The occurrence of low night temperatures during reproductive development is one of the factors most limiting rice yields in southern Australia. Yield losses due to cold temperature are the result of incomplete pollen formation and subsequent floret sterility. Researchers have found that in 75% of years, rice farmers suffer losses between 0.5 and 2.5 t/ha. Research is being undertaken to identify overseas rice varieties, that are cold tolerant under the local weather conditions and by using those genotypes as parent material, develop cold tolerance varieties of rice. A yield simulation model was used to measure reduction in losses due to cold at different minimum threshold temperatures, while the SAMBOY Rice model was used to measure the costs and returns of a breeding program for cold tolerance. The results of the economic analysis reveal that new cold tolerant varieties would lead to significant increase in financial benefits through reduction in losses due to cold, and an increase in yield from the better use on nitrogen by the cold tolerant varieties. The returns to investment on the research project are estimated to be high.
Valuing a Test for Nitrogen Status in Rice
03 November 2005
University of Sydney

Singh, Rajinder;Williams, Robert;Mullen, John;Faour, Khaled

Nitrogen is a crucial input for the efficient production of rice and is generally applied in two split treatments. The first treatment is given before flooding the rice paddocks at sowing time ie at the pre-flooding (PF) stage. The second treatment is applied within a week after the beginning of the panicle initiation (PI) stage. There is no pre-sowing test to estimate nitrogen requirements and farmers use cropping history to make this decision. Later in the season further nitrogen can be applied on the basis of existing Near Infra-red Reflectance (NIR) based nitrogen tissue test but yield potential has often been established by this time. A further source of yield risk is temperature prior to flowering and at high rates of nitrogen there is a potential for yield losses at low temperatures. The aim of one of the projects, funded by the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Sustainable Rice Production, is to develop a nitrogen test for soils of rice paddocks. This would help determine the amount of nitrogen available in the soil and how much more nitrogen needs to be applied at the PF stage. The aim of this study is to first value the information that is provided to the rice growers at PF by the soil test on nitrogen availability and then measure returns to investment on research and extension to develop and promote this test. The problem is first presented in a decision tree framework. The Bayesian framework is then applied, where information provided by the test is used to revise perceived probabilities of yield outcomes under different nitrogen regimes. MaNage rice, a bio-economic model, is used to work out payoffs from different rates of nitrogen at PF on different nitrogen status soils. Finally, returns to investment on R&D are measured within a benefit-cost framework. The results reveal that the information provided by the soil test is valuable as the test helps farmers to use nitrogen more profitably. The outcome of the benefit-cost analysis shows that with the current accuracy levels the benefits from the new test are not sufficient to meet the costs involved on research. If the scientists were able to improve the accuracy of the test (ie at par with existing NIR tissue test), the returns to investment on the project would be quite significant.
Analysing the Benefits of Growing Crops after Rice in the Rice Growing Areas in Australia
03 November 2005
University of Sydney

Faour, Khaled;Singh, Rajinder;Humphreys, E;Smith, David;Mullen, John

The Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA), the Coleambally Irrigation Area (CIA), and the Murray Valley (MV) constitute the major Australian rice growing areas and are located in southern east Australia. According to the Ricegrowers' Association of Australia Inc. (2002), the annual value of production of rice was $357 million in 2001 and the industry generates more than $500 million from value-added exports annually, allowing these rice growing areas to play a significant role in the Australian economy. The rice growing areas are also among the areas where the sustainability of irrigated agriculture is under threat from rising watertables, soil salinity and other environmental consequences. The depth to watertables in more than 70 per cent of the MIA (MIA L&WMP, 1998), around 35 per cent of the CIA (CICL, 2001), and around 60 per cent of the MV (Murray Irrigation, 2001) is now around two metres from the soil surface. With the current land use practices, around 20 to 30 per cent of regions such as the MIA could become moderately salinised in the next 30 years due to rising watertables (Humphreys et al., 2001). Water leaching and run-off from rice-based farms form further problems. Paddocks are flood-irrigated during rice growing period between November to March. Although irrigation water is released prior to rice harvest, much of the water is retained by the soil even after rice harvest. The soil then slowly drains this water along with the added winter rainwater into the watertable beyond the root zone. This wet soil profile has the potential to become an extra economic resource for rice-based farms whenever it can be used to grow another crop during winter straight after rice. Growing winter crops immediately after rice harvest may reduce the amount of water drainage into watertables on rice-based farms. Successful adoption of this potentially attractive option seems to depend on good weather and rootzone water conditions, good drainage and timeliness in the rice harvesting, stubble burning, and winter crop sowing operations. Among the constraints for adding crops after rice are too much rain or waterlogging for the winter crop to survive, problems with stubble burn, pests, weeds, and unsuitable machinery leading to a high risk of crop failure (Humphreys and Bhuiyan, 2001). As one of the strategies to overcome the problems of rising watertables in rice growing areas, the Rice CRC is conducting Project 1205 “Quantifying and Maximising the Benefits of Crops after Rice”, henceforward referred to as Project 1205. Project 1205 aims at determining the constraints and the success factors for rice growers to produce winter crops and pastures after rice, and at measuring the impacts of this practice on environmental and economic sustainability. In particular, the project aims to measure the effects of growing wheat after rice on the productivity and water use efficiency of the rice-wheat cropping system. 2 The objectives of this economic analysis of project 1205 are: · To identify the common crop rotations in the main Australian rice-based farming systems, both with and without crops after rice; · To estimate the potential financial benefits of growing crops after rice; · To identify the economic benefits to the community from reduced accessions to groundwater; and · To compare returns with the costs to the CRC and its partners of developing and extending this technology. To measure the likely financial and economic benefits of growing crops after rice, the study relied heavily on the results from Humphreys et al. (2001).
Occidental self-understanding and the Elias-Duerr dispute: ‘thick’ versus ‘thin’ conceptions of human subjectivity and civilization
05 May 2006
University of Sydney

van Krieken, Robert

It has become central to Occidental self-understanding to see Western European identities and forms of social relations as historically unique. This is true both in everyday, commonsense understandings of what it means to be a person in contemporary societies, and in social scientific studies of Western culture and society, especially in history and sociology. However, there are arguments against an overemphasis on the uniqueness of the modern habitus, and against the picture which is then drawn of ‘the Other’: the inhabitants of previous eras and other cultures. This paper will examine and assess the arguments against seeing the modern, civilized habitus as radically different from that of previous historical epochs and ‘non-Western’ cultures, and for a greater sensitivity to the continuities in the historical development of social relations and psychic structures. The discussion will focus on Hans-Peter Duerr’s critique of Elias in order to identify the underlying conceptual issues running through all historical and comparative sociology which these debates bring to the surface in an exemplary way, particularly the distinction between ‘thick’ and ‘thin’ conceptions of human habitus and subjectivity.
Social Discipline and State Formation: Weber and Oestreich on the historical sociology of subjectivity
05 May 2006
University of Sydney

van Krieken, Robert

The concept of discipline has come to be associated with the work of Michel Foucault, but Max Weber and Gerhard Oestreich also made extensive use of it, and this paper explores their contribution to our understanding of the historical sociology of subjectivity in terms of an increasing disciplining of subjectivity. For Weber the discipline associated with ascetic Protestantism played a crucial role in the development of Western capitalism, and this central concern with the historical psychology of capitalism and the disciplined character of the modern self makes Weber’s work the intellectual precursor of the more recent discussions. Gerhard Oestreich provides a different kind of analysis by drawing our attention to the role of both the intellectual movement of neo-Stoicism and its associated forms of state intervention in spreading the discipline of the newly reformed armies in Western Europe throughout the rest of European society. The paper concludes with a discussion of the difficulties that remain in the work of both writers, and the implications of some more recent historical research for their theoretical orientations.
Crime, government and civilization: Rethinking Elias in Criminology
10 May 2006
University of Sydney

van Krieken, Robert

The placement of criminal law under the control of the public authority of the sovereign or the state has always been part of an attempt to civilize its operation, both restraining the workings of law on those inflicting particular kinds of harms, and rendering those workings, supposedly, more effective. However, the reconfiguration of the authority of the state in relation to criminal law since the 1970s has led most criminologists to reject the whole notion of a long-term civilizing process encompassing criminal law, turning instead to analyses of the inner logic of the various new responses to crime characterizing advanced liberal societies over the past three decades. This article outlines the major features of contemporary crime control and punishment identified within this approach: the transition from disciplinary modes of exercising power to ‘governing through freedom’, the emphasis on ‘designing out crime’ or actuarial justice, and the changed place of emotions in ‘affective governance’, including a turn to popular punitiveness. It then identifies some central empirical and conceptual problems shared by these accounts of contemporary crime control, and outlines the contribution that Elias’s work on long-term processes of civilization and decivilization can make not just to understanding the historical development of punishment, but also current developments across the whole field of criminal justice, focusing on the examples of restorative justice and popular punitiveness.
Medical Dominance in the Australian Health System: The Case of the Bionic Ear
06 June 2006
University of Sydney

Collyer, Fran

The material for this paper is based on approximately 60 face-to-face interviews with specialist doctors, consumers, administrators, policy makers, various officials, researchers and company representatives. It is a case study of the development of the Australian Bionic Ear (or cochlear implant prosthesis) providing an analysis of the key social relationships within medicine - between doctors, scientists, consumers, government officials, industry representatives and others - which shape the development and implementation of new medical technologies.
Underwater acoustic imaging: image due to a specular reflector in the geometrical-acoustics limit.
21 August 2006
University of Sydney

Blair, David G

In underwater acoustic imaging, used to produce high-quality images in turbid waters, a specular reflector can produce a 'pseudoimage' of the receiving array at the reflecting surface. Based on the 'geometrical approximation' (similar to geometrical acoustics), formulae are derived for the size and shape of the pseudoimage for both flat and curved reflectors. For curved reflectors, described by two principal radii of curvature, the formulae assume also the 'large-range approximation'. The formulae enable radii of curvature to be determined from an image. Also discussed briefly are possible extensions and the role of non-geometrical effects.
Oöcyte markets: global tissue economies and women’s reproductive work in embryonic stem cell research
05 September 2006
University of Sydney

Waldby, Catherine

Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) research, otherwise known as therapeutic cloning, requires large numbers of research oöcytes, placing pressure on an already limited supply. In the UK, Canada, Australia, Singapore and most of Western Europe, oöcytes are made available through modestly reimbursed donation, and, due to the onerous nature of donation, the existing demand for reproductive oöcytes far outstrips availability. SCNT research will place this system under even greater pressure. This paper investigates the growth in a global market for oöcytes, where transnational IVF clinics broker sales between generally poor, female vendors and wealthy purchasers, beyond the borders of national regulation, and with little in the way of clinical or bioethical scrutiny. It considers the possible impact that SCNT research will have on this global market, and suggests some ways to improve the protection, security and power of vendors.
Understanding Ulcers: Medical Knowledge, Social Constructionism, and Helicobacter Pylori
13 September 2006
University of Sydney

Collyer, Fran

The study of historical change in the content of medical knowledge in regard to specific illnesses or diseases provides sociologists with the opportunity to investigate both social processes and social theory. In this study of medical knowledge, propositions from the social constructionist school of sociology are utilised to highlight the way new knowledge about ulcers is generated, and to identify the cultural and social factors which inhibit the dissemination of new knowledge. The paper then explores recent challenges to this school of thought, using the case study of ulcers to suggest that there are limits to social constructionism and its capacity to explain change in medical knowledge and practice.
A musicologist’s wishlist: some issues, practices and practicalities in musical aspects of language documentation.
29 November 2006
University of Sydney

Barwick, Linda

This paper summarises some of the issues that have arisen for me in my collaborations with linguists in documentation of Australian song. It provides pointers for recording techniques and guidelines as to some of the things that musicologists would like to know about musical performance, especially in the case of musical traditions and practices transmitted orally within small language groups (as is typically the case for documentation of musical traditions in endangered languages).
Networking digital data on endangered languages of the Asia Pacific region
29 November 2006
University of Sydney

Barwick, Linda

Since the invention of audio-visual recording technologies in the late nineteenth century, scholars of languages, cultures and musics from around the world have enthusiastically embraced the potential of portable recording technologies — initially audio, and since the 1970s, video — to capture the events that they study. Because of the changing nature of people, societies and technologies, many ethnographic recordings have outlasted the people, traditions and even languages that they recorded. These research recordings now have immense significance not only for researchers but also for the descendants of the people recorded and the cultural heritage communities whose traditions and languages they encode, yet they are more endangered than ever because of the current crisis of format obsolescence for many of the most common audio- and video-recording formats used in the 20th century. This paper discusses issues for finding and preserving these important cultural documents, many of which are held in private collections, or small research collections in Universities or local cultural museums. Many small archives do not have the funding or expertise to digitise and preserve their analogue audiovisual collections. There is some scope for optimism, however, because significant opportunities for collaboration across institutional and even national boundaries have been opened up by emerging high-bandwidth networking and distributed storage technologies. These enable distributed facilities for storage and management of archived research data. Digital technologies can also facilitate including the relevant cultural community collaborations to look after and manage significant audiovisual recordings. The paper discusses these issues through a case study of PARADISEC (the Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures) (http://www.paradisec.org.au), an Australian project established in 2003 by the Universities of Sydney, Melbourne and the Australian National University to preserve and make accessible Australian researchers’ field recordings in the Asia-Pacific region.
Cybraries in paradise: new technologies and ethnographic repositories.
01 December 2006
University of Sydney

Barwick, Linda;Thieberger, Nicholas

Digital technologies are altering research practices surrounding creation and use of ethnographic field recordings, and the methodologies and paradigms of the disciplines centered around their interpretation. In this chapter we discuss some examples of our current research practices as fieldworkers in active engagement with cultural heritage communities documenting music and language in the Asia- Pacific region, and as developers and curators of the digital repository PARADISEC (the Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures: ). We suggest a number of benefits that the use of digital technologies can bring to the recording of material from small and endangered cultures, and to its re-use by communities and researchers. We believe it is a matter of social justice as well as scientific interest that ethnographic recordings held in higher education institutions should be preserved and made accessible to future generations. We argue that, with appropriate planning and care by researchers, digitization of research recordings in audiovisual media can facilitate access by remote communities to records of their cultural heritage held in higher education institutions to a far greater extent than was possible in the analog age.
Digital conversion of Nineteenth century publications - production management in the Australian Cooperative Digitisation Project 1840-45
23 January 2007
University of Sydney

Coleman, Ross;Webb, Colin

This article will discuss and evaluate the management and production issues of the Australian Cooperative Digitisation Project 1840-45 - a collaborative project funded by the Australian Research Council. The completion of this digital library project allows the authors to reflect on the technical issues and the interrelationships of the content, project organisation, the production model with its access and preservation goals, and issues of quality control, in relation to the future viability of such projects. -- " It may in truth be said, that in no country, and at no period since the invention of printing, has there appeared a greater necessity for a periodical conducted with spirit and principle, in the popular cause, than there does appear to exist in the colony of New South Wales at this moment. The only journals of character now existing upon any basis that offers to be permanent, boast of their “moderate conservatism”; a term which according to our interpretation means just as much oppression of the many by the few as the spirit of the age will bear.....unless the people are fully represented in the periodical press, as well as in the councils of the country, their rights will in the conflict of factions and interests be greatly endangered” - The Weekly Register of politics, facts and general literature, vol 1 no 1 July 29 1843. -- The period 1840-45 was a seminal period in the development of an Australian colonial culture. This period, following the end of convict transportation and preceding the influx of the gold-rushes, was characterised by exploration and expansion, conflict, commercial growth, political agitation and a surge in local publication reflecting the issues and concerns of the time. Journals, such as the Weekly Register, led and engaged in the political and social debate of the time, and remain today as the voice and contemporary record of the period. The Australian Cooperative Digitisation Project, 1840-45 (ACDP) was funded, through an Australian Research Council grant, to both digitise this contemporary record for access and ensure its long term preservation. The project has been a collaborative initiative between the University of Sydney Library, the State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW), and the National Library of Australia (NLA) Fundamental to the success of this project was the need to establish practical and implementable standards for large-scale digital conversion, in the context of the hybrid (microfilming and imaging) production model adopted using external vendors. The project - following the access and preservation initiatives developed in the US - has been described in a number of earlier articles (these can be found at the project site at http://www.nla.gov.au/acdp/), and we do not intend to revisit these descriptions in detail. This article will address and evaluate the management and production issues of what has been a complex developmental digital library project.. This complexity can best be characterised by the interrelationships of the nature of the content, the project organisation, access and preservation goals, production issues and management, and image quality control.
The Australian Cooperative Digitisation Project 1840-45 - A Progress Report
23 January 2007
University of Sydney

Coleman, Ross;Ventress, Alan

The Australian Cooperative Digitisation Project, 1840-45, also known as Ferguson 1840-45, is a collaborative project between the University of Sydney Library, the State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW), the National Library of Australia (NLA) and Monash University Library, supported by ten other institutional and industry groups. The project has been funded by an Australian Research Council 1996 Infrastructure Grant through the Department of Employment, Education and Training.
The Blog as a High-impact Institutional Communication Tool
19 March 2007
University of Sydney

Goodfellow, Tom;Graham, Sarah

Participation in conferences is a key aspect of professional development for library staff. The benefits of attending a conference include networking opportunities, engagement with the latest ideas, and seeing products provided by vendors. However, the considerable cost of sending staff to a conference is often not matched by the benefits that the library gains as a result. The knowledge acquired by the individuals attending is not always effectively shared by conventional tools such as conference reports or post-event presentations. This is particularly true in larger libraries, and in geographically dispersed organisations. We aimed to maximise the institutional impact of our attendance at Click 06 (the biennial ALIA conference) by providing a blog of the event and encouraging interaction with our colleagues during the conference itself. In this article we will describe the process of establishing, promoting and authoring an ‘institution focussed conference blog’. We also evaluate the success of the project and discuss the implications for future development.
Chemical and physical characteristics of grain related to variability in energy and amino acid availability in pigs: a review
17 October 2007
University of Sydney

van Barneveld, Robert

To optimise pig production, there is a need to define the variation in the available energy and amino acid content of feed grains and to understand those factors that influence nutritive value. Differences of up to 3.7 MJ/kg dry matter (DM) in digestible energy (DE) content were observed following a review of data for more than 70 cultivars of wheat. Similarly, analysis of data for more than 125 cultivars of barley revealed a range in DE estimates from 11.7 to 16.0 MJ/kg DM. Differences of this magnitude are economically significant to pig producers. Cultivar has a minimal effect on the availability of energy and amino acids in cereals, although this variation is larger in legumes, particularly lupins. The cultural conditions and agronomic practices (e.g. fertiliser rate) have a greater influence on amino acid and energy availability than the growing region or the growing year. Many factors are shown to influence the availability of energy and amino acids in feed grains, including protein source and type, starch characteristics, fat source and type, non-starch polysaccharide components, and anti-nutritional factors. Although all of these factors can influence the nutritive value of a feed grain for pigs in some way, the availability of energy and amino acids will ultimately depend on the particular combination of these components in a grain and how they behave in the presence of nutrients from other feed ingredients. For this reason, an understanding of the factors that influence the nutritive value of feed grains is more likely to eventuate when multiple regressions of grain components are made against the availability of energy and amino acids.
Working Papers, Open Access and Cyber-Infrastructure in Classical Studies
18 February 2008
University of Sydney

Pritchard, David

Princeton–Stanford Working Papers in Classics is a web-based series of work-in-progress scripts by members of two leading departments of classics. It introduces the humanities to a new form of scholarly communication and represents a major advance in the free availability of classical-studies scholarship in cyberspace. This article both reviews the initial performance of this open-access experiment and the benefits and challenges of working papers more generally for classical studies. After two years of operation Princeton–Stanford Working Papers in Classics has proven to be a clear success. This series has built up a large international readership and a sizeable body of preprints and performs important scholarly and community-outreach functions. As this performance is largely due to its congruency with the working arrangements of ancient historians and classicists and the global demand for open-access scholarship, the series confirms the viability of this means of scholarly communication and the likelihood of its expansion in our discipline. But modifications are required to increase the benefits this series brings and the amount of scholarship it makes freely available online. Finally departments wishing to replicate its success will have to consider other important developments, such as the increasing availability of postprints, the linking of research funding to open access, and the emergence of new cyber-infrastructure.
Genotype and environment effects on feed grain quality
01 April 2008
University of Sydney

O'Brien, L

The extent of genotype and location effects on chemical composition and nutritive value of grains fed to animals was surveyed. The review covered the winter cereals (wheat, barley, oats, and triticale), the summer cereals (sorghum and maize), and the pulses (field pea, lupins, faba beans, and chickpea) when fed to cattle, sheep, poultry, pigs, rats, and mice. The bulk of the literature does not meet the statistical criteria required to differentiate genotype and environment effects. When the criteria were satisfied, significant genotype differences were shown to exist for chemical composition in wheat, barley, triticale, and sorghum, for nutritive value as determined by methods in vitro in wheat, barley, oats, triticale, and sorghum and in vivo for wheat, barley, triticale, sorghum and maize. Valid comparisons across grain species are few, but in vitro gas production ranks wheat > oats > barley. Significant location, year, genotype × location, genotype × year, and genotype × location × year effects were reported for nutritive value for some grains. Wheat feeding trials with poultry indicate that environment can affect apparent metabolisable energy (AME) as much as, if not more than, genotype. A greater range in nutritive value appears to exist in barley than in wheat. The information is unclear in the case of triticale, where despite some reports claiming that grain of this species has high lysine content, the difference does not appear to translate to improved performance in animals. Insufficient studies exist for oats despite it being one of the most widely used on-farm feed grains. No examples could be found of studies with rye. The most thoroughly researched grain has been sorghum, which is principally grown in developed countries for feeding to livestock. Here, some definitive studies have been conducted to define the extent of genotype, location, and genotype × environment interaction effects. Scope exists to enhance the nutritive value of sorghum by breeding through modification of endosperm composition, tannin content, and improved protein digestibility. Variation in endosperm composition in maize due to simply inherited mutations provides the opportunity to improve its nutritive value. This review indicates that before any plant breeding is undertaken for feed grain quality, a better understanding of what determines nutritive value and the relative importance of genotype and environment in modulating these factors is required.
Cereal structure and composition
01 April 2008
University of Sydney

Evers, A. D;Blakeney, A. B;O'Brien, L

Cereals are cultivated grasses that are grown throughout the world. As well as providing food for man, they, or fractions derived from processing them, make an important contribution to the diets of farm stock. Cereal grains have a long storage life under favourable conditions because they are harvested at a relatively low moisture content and comprise stable components. The principal energy sources within the grains are protected from infestation by outer coverings that are difficult to penetrate and in some cases unpalatable components in the coverings discourage predation by wild populations. The largest morphological component of all grains is the starchy endosperm, and approximately 80% of this is starch, occurring as microscopical granules with forms characteristic of the species. Also characteristic of the species are the storage proteins, which make the next largest contribution to endosperm dry weight. Proteins are important both as nutrients and by virtue of the fact that the class includes enzymes which, although making a small contribution to grain weight, can have a marked effect on grain quality and hence price. Other chemical components present as minor contributors, but with potential for exerting significant nutritional influence, are phytates and tannins, and current knowledge of these is briefly discussed. The walls of endosperm cells comprise a complex mixture of polysaccharides including cellulose, arabinoxylans, and β-glucans, as well as proteins and esterified phenolic acids. Attention is drawn to the difficulty in defining ‘fibre’ as it is method- or function-dependent and includes contributions from the endosperm cell wall components as well as the lignified walls of cells in the outer protective pericarp and the contents and cuticle of the testa.
Chemical and physical characteristics of grains related to variability in energy and amino acid availability in poultry
01 April 2008
University of Sydney

Hughes, R. J;Choct, M

Grains such as wheat and barley, combined with legumes and oilseed meals, provide not only the bulk of essential nutrients for commercial poultry production and reproduction, but are also the prime source of anti-nutritive components, which are likely to have significant bearing on how effectively all dietary components are utilised by poultry. Sources of variation in the physical and chemical characteristics of grains used in poultry diets include variety, seasonal effects, and growth sites, crop treatment and grain fumigants, and post-harvest storage conditions and period of storage. The available energy and protein contents of grains fed to poultry, which best represent nutritive value, are extremely wide and in consequence there is an urgent need to develop rapid and objective tests for the assessment of nutritive value prior to including grains in poultry diets. Variation in the available energy and protein content of grains can be attributed to a wide range of anti-nutritive factors such as non-starch polysaccharides (NSP), enzyme activity, tannins, alkyl resorcinols, protease inhibitors, α-amylase inhibitors, phytohaemagglutinins, alkaloids, saponins, and lathyrogens. The relative importance of such factors will also differ according to the type of grain in question. However, NSP seem to be the predominant factor in Australia over the past few years given the volume of published literature on this topic. This argument is strongly supported by the fact that NSP-degrading enzymes are routinely used in monogastric diets with great success throughout the world. Numerous attempts over a long period have failed to provide unequivocal evidence that nutritive value in grains for poultry can be predicted with sufficient accuracy and precision by simple, low-cost physico-chemical measurements used singly or in combination. Nevertheless, it is highly desirable to continue to explore these simple measurements in the expectation that useful statistical relationships with more complex measurements will emerge, or that simple measurements can be used to fine-tune prediction equations based on more powerful techniques such as near infrared spectrophotometry. Finally, the nutritive value of grains for poultry will be determined not only by the chemical and physical properties of grains but also by the way that these interact with the processes of ingestion, digestion, absorption, and metabolism in birds. For this reason it is imperative that plant and animal scientists join forces to improve the nutritive value of plant material as feed for animals for the benefit of grain growers and producers of livestock.
Processing cereal grains for animal feeding
01 April 2008
University of Sydney

Rowe, J. B;Choct, M;Pethick, D. W

This review concentrates on factors influencing the nutritive value of cereal grains for animals and strategies, in particular processing and storage, which may be used to optimise fermentation and digestion. The main focus is on the utilisation of starch in cereal grains by ruminants. Extensive comparisons have been made between grains and between animals to understand the reasons for differences in pattern of fermentation and/or intestinal digestion in response to a range of processing techniques. In addition, differences between the animal species have been reviewed to understand further the factors critical for maximising post-ruminal starch digestion.
Methods for the analysis of premium livestock grains
01 April 2008
University of Sydney

Petterson, D. S;Harris, D. J;Rayner, C. J;Blakeney, A. B;Choct, M

The literature contains a wide range of reported values for the content of most chemical constituents of feed grains and meals. It is not possible to assess accurately how much of this variation is due to genotypic and environmental factors and how much to differences in methodologies between laboratories. We have reviewed the literature for the preparation and analysis of feed grains (cereals, legumes, and oilseeds) and made recommendations for procedures considered to give the most accurate and reliable results. Recommendations are also made for a quality assurance scheme, an inter-laboratory evaluation program, and the use of reference materials. Australia-wide adoption of these practices should ensure that any future variations observed can be ascribed to genotype and/or environment. This review is part of a national premium feed grains quality project which, in turn, is part of a program to provide more accurate and reliable information about the true value of our feed grains to the domestic and international feeds industries.
Increasing the utilisation of grain when fed whole to ruminants
01 April 2008
University of Sydney

Kaiser, A. G

Feeding grain whole to cattle generally results in a lower digestibility than that obtained with processed grain. If this problem could be overcome, feeding with whole grain would reduce processing costs, and the slower rate of starch digestion in the rumen could improve fibre digestion with potential beneficial effects on intake and animal production. Two strategies are available to increase the digestibility of whole grain. The first, longer term strategy relies on the selection or breeding of feed grains that are efficiently digested by cattle when fed whole. The review considers the chemical and physical properties of grains likely to increase the degree of grain damage during mastication, and increase the digestibility of the seed coat fraction. Research is required to determine the feasibility of selecting feed grains with these characteristics. The second strategy is to treat whole grain with chemicals or enzymes to increase digestibility of the seed coat and consequently whole grain digestion within the rumen. Considerable research has been conducted on the sodium hydroxide (NaOH) treatment of grain, and there is sufficient evidence from cattle experiments to indicate that digestibility, liveweight gain, and milk production on NaOH-treated whole grain can be similar to that on rolled grain, provided sufficient NaOH is applied. However, a number of practical and commercial considerations have limited the more widespread adoption of this technology on farms. Although ammonia treatment offers a more practical alternative to NaOH, digestibility and animal production responses have been highly variable, and research is required to identify effective ammoniation procedures. The increased availability of enzymes for livestock feeding has potentially provided another grain treatment option. The application of fibrolytic enzymes to whole grain prior to high-moisture storage or feeding, and their subsequent effect on grain digestibility, require research. The impact of grain characteristics, both physical and chemical, on the response to alkali or enzyme treatment also requires research.
Associative effects between forages and grains: consequences for feed utilisation
01 April 2008
University of Sydney

Dixon, R. M;Stockdale, C. R

Intake of metabolisable energy (ME) when forages and grains are fed together to ruminants may, due to digestive and metabolic interactions, be lower or higher than expected from feeding these components separately. These interactions, or associative effects, are due primarily to changes in the intake and/or the digestibility of the fibrous components of forage. Effects on voluntary forage intake (substitution effects) are usually much larger than on the digestibility of fibrous components, although the changes in forage intake may be a consequence of changes in the rate of digestion of the fibrous components. Positive associative effects, where grains increase voluntary intake and/or digestion of forage, are usually due to the provision of a limiting nutrient (eg. nitrogen, phosphorus) in the grain which is deficient in the forage. Negative associative effects, where grains decrease voluntary intake and/or digestion of forage, occur frequently and can cause low efficiency of utilisation of grain. Rate of substitution of grain for forage is related to forage intake, forage digestibility, the proportion of grain in the diet, and the maturity of the animal. Substitution rates are usually high in ruminants consuming high intakes of forage of high digestibility, probably due to the metabolic mechanisms which control voluntary intake reducing forage intake. Substitution rates are often low when animals are consuming forage of low to medium digestibility. Since voluntary intake of such forages is most likely determined by the capacity of the rumen to accommodate and pass to the lower gastrointestinal tract undigested forage residues, and of the rate of forage fibre digestion in the rumen, substitution is likely to be determined by changes in these processes. Reduced rate of fibre digestion in the rumen is often due to low rumen pH and/or an insufficiency of essential substrates for rumen microorganisms. Use of grains for lactating dairy cows involves an additional constraint since dietary grain may severely reduce milk fat content. Negative associative effects can be alleviated by ensuring supply of essential microbial substrates, feeding management, and modification of grain to minimise their adverse effects on fibre digestion, while ensuring satisfactory digestion of the grain and efficient microbial protein production.
Potential methodologies and strategies for the rapid assessment of feed-grain quality
01 April 2008
University of Sydney

Wrigley, C. W

The efficient use of grains for animal feed requires the use of analytical methods that can provide rapid indications of the suitability of the grain for animal nutrition. Ideally, these methods need to be applied at the site of grain receival within the tight time and cost confines of grain delivery. In addition, methods are needed in plant breeding to efficiently screen for target aspects of feed-grain quality to facilitate the development of genotypes with improved nutritional quality. This review describes a range of techniques that can fulfil these analytical requirements. These include visual examination of grain samples for species identification and for recognition of defects and contaminants. This long-standing approach is rapid, but it is subjective and dependent on the expertise of the operator. The newer technology of image analysis offers the prospect of providing similar information automatically and quantitatively, without the risk of operator bias. Near-infrared (NIR) analysis is already in general use for grain analysis at many receival depots in wheat-growing countries, mainly for the determination of moisture and protein content. There are promising indications that NIR can be extended to the determination of many other aspects of grain composition, both the positive aspects that contribute to feed quality, as well as components such as beta-glucan content that have negative contributions for non-ruminants. Furthermore, NIR is being developed to provide a direct indication of metabolisable energy for a range of grain types. Whereas NIR is primarily suited to the determination of quantitatively major components of the grain, without the requirement of significant sample preparation, immunological analyses are appropriate for the determination of specific and minor components, such as mycotoxins, lectins, alkaloids, and pesticide residues. These and other methods, suited for on-site analysis, need to be combined with effective sampling to ensure that the results of testing are representative of the whole of the grain consignment, and also integrated into a systematic strategy to ensure cost-effective testing.
Physical and chemical contaminants in grains used in livestock feeds
01 April 2008
University of Sydney

van Barneveld, Robert

This review focuses on 3 main sources of contamination of Australian grains used in livestock feeds, namely chemical residues, moulds and mycotoxins, and weed seeds, including natural toxins such as pyrrolizidine alkaloids. By evaluating the risk to livestock from chemical contaminants (pre-emergent herbicides, selective herbicides, fungicides, insecticides used during growth phases and at pre-harvest, and post harvest insecticides) and the influence of chemical contaminants on livestock production efficiency and grain nutritional quality, the relative priorities for residue management strategies can be established. The chemicals with the highest priority for inclusion in a residue management strategy include bifenthrin (synthetic pyrethroid), chlorpyrifos-methyl (organophosphate), deltamethrin (synthetic pyrethroid), endosulfan (organochlorine), and fenitrothion (organophosphate). It also appears that the Australian maximum residue limit standards do not meet the needs of the livestock industries for effective management of residues in animal feeds, and consequently, a revised approach is required. The amount of research and literature available on the effects of mould and mycotoxin contamination of grain on livestock production, and techniques available for the measurement of moulds and mycotoxins, far exceeds the potential risk these contaminants pose to the livestock industries in Australia. In addition, the effects of moulds and mycotoxins are rarely widespread, with many accounts in the literature referring to a small number of animals on individual enterprises. The actual economic impact of moulds and mycotoxin contamination is also difficult to assess due to a lack of systematic surveys and varying livestock production responses to the presence of these compounds. Finally, weed seeds and the toxic components of weed seeds are still prevalent contaminants of Australian grains used in livestock feeds, and are responsible for significant livestock losses, but there is a lack of screening methods for qualitative or quantitative identification of these contaminants and a lack of uniform standards for use of contaminated grain.
Comparison of methods used to predict the in vivo digestibility of feeds in ruminants
01 April 2008
University of Sydney

Kitessa, S;Flinn, P. C;Irish, G. G

Digestibility is a very useful index of the energy content of ruminant feeds, but cheaper and quicker laboratory methods are required as an alternative to the ultimate measure of in vivo digestibility using animals. These methods involve either prediction of digestibility from chemical composition or in vitro and in situ simulation of the digestion process. This review presents a range of chemical and in vitro techniques for predicting digestibility, together with an assessment of their advantages and limitations, particularly the degree to which they account for the sources of variation in in vivo digestibility in ruminants. In situ digestion of feed samples in the actual rumen environment is probably the most accurate of the non in vivo procedures, but is not suitable for routine application. Thein vitro gas production technique offers no advantages in prediction of total tract digestibility, but is useful for screening cereal grains for rate of starch hydrolysis in the rumen. The preferred procedure for routine laboratory prediction of digestibility is the pepsin-cellulase technique, provided amylase is included or high temperature digestion is used for samples high in starch content. Prediction of digestibility from chemical composition is not recommended. The optical technique of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy can be calibrated against any of the methods outlined in this review, and is unsurpassed in terms of speed and repeatability. Direct NIR prediction of in vivo digestibility is also possible, but is limited by the lack of adequate numbers of feed samples with known in vivo values. Future work should be aimed at filling this gap and also improving the accuracy of laboratory methods for predicting the digestibility of low quality feeds
An assessment by in vivo methods of grain quality for ruminants
01 April 2008
University of Sydney

Hogan, J. P;Flinn, P. C

For the purpose of this review, grain quality refers to the efficiency with which a grain supports growth in cattle fed diets which contain grain as a major component. Grains are fed as concentrated sources of energy. Their quality depends on the energy content of the grain, the amount eaten, and the efficiency, both of extraction of nutrients from the diet and of conversion of nutrients to weight gain. This paper briefly describes the fermentative and digestive processes involved in releasing energy from grain and in ensuring an adequate supply of other essential nutrients to the animal. Methods are then described for measuring net energy storage, nutrient release in various sections of the tract, and storage of energy and protein both directly and indirectly in studies of growth. It is recommended that in vivo assessment of the energy content of grains for ruminants be conducted in stages. Digestibility in the whole tract should be used to rank a range of grains, then comparisons made between grains using growth studies. Discrepancies arising from these assessments should then be investigated using more detailed measurements, particularly starch digestion in the stomach and intestines.
A review of methods for assessing the protein value of grain fed to ruminants
01 April 2008
University of Sydney

White, Colin;Ashes, John

The protein value of feed grains for ruminant rations is currently described in modern feeding systems in terms of total protein, potentially degradable protein, and potentially undegradable protein. Progress is being made towards full standardisation of methods to measure these components, although it is a goal yet to be achieved. Whereas in the future it is desirable that protein value be defined in terms of individual amino acid availability at the intestine, in the immediate term it can best be described by the rate and extent of degradability of protein in the rumen and the availability in the intestine of the rumen undegraded protein. Refining the methodology for measuring these characteristics is important, but it is equally important that the existing methods be validated using in vivo experimentation.
In vitro techniques for the assessment of the nutritive value of feed grains for pigs: a review
01 April 2008
University of Sydney

Moughan, Paul

The philosophy inherent in developing in vitro digestibility assays for dietary energy and protein is reviewed and an historical account is given of the development of such assays for the pig. General principles to be considered in the development of in vitro digestibility assays are discussed, as are limitations of the in vitro approach. The importance of choosing the most appropriate in vivo measures of digestibility for the evaluation of in vitro assays is stressed. For protein sources that do not contain anti-nutritional factors or plant fibre, ‘true’ ileal digestibility should be the in vivo baseline, while plant proteins should be tested against ‘real’ ileal digestibility. There is a dearth of adequately conducted validation studies for in vitro digestibility assays. It appears that the 3-step (pepsin, pancreatin, Viscozyme) closed in vitro system to allow prediction of organic matter and gross energy digestibility in the pig has particular promise for practical feed evaluation. Similarly based protein digestibility assays may require further development before they can be applied with confidence.
In vivo and in vitro techniques for the assessment of the energy content of feed grains for poultry: a review
01 April 2008
University of Sydney

Farrell, D. J

The focus of this paper is on the energy evaluation of foodstuffs, particularly of food grains for poultry. Apparent metabolisable energy (AME) is currently the preferred feeding system for poultry but net energy systems are future possibilities and one is currently being used in some poultry growth models. These systems take into account the efficiency with which AME is being utilised by the bird. Aspects such as AME adjusted to zero nitrogen retention and true metabolisable energy (TME) are discussed. Shortcomings of the AME system are also discussed and recent net energy systems are described briefly. The in vitro prediction of AME or TME has not shown great promise although the European Tables of Energy Values for Foodstuffs contain detailed analysis of chemical composition and AMEn data allowing improved accuracy of prediction. It is suggested that data generated on Australian grains should be tested using these tables, and if successful, these tables may be useful to industry. Near infrared reflectance analysis (NIRA) is likely to be the preferred in vitro method for predicting a range of characteristics of food grains including AME. A new method of grain evaluation developed in Canada is described and this approach, with modification, may be worth pursuing in Australia. For the in vivo method of measuring AME of grains, the classical total collection method with broiler chickens is recommended with minor changes. The use of acid-insoluble ash for estimating dry matter digestibility for subsequent determination of AME may have merit. A rapid assay appropriate to laying hens is proposed because of the known increase in AME of grains as birds age. It has been established that AME values generated using adult cockerels also apply reasonably well to hens.
Amino acid availability in poultry - in vitro and in vivo measurements
01 April 2008
University of Sydney

Ravindran, V;Bryden, W. L

Methodology to evaluate the protein quality or amino acid availability in feed ingredients for poultry using in vitro (enzymic, chemical, or microbiological assays), indirect in vivo (plasma amino acid assays), or direct in vivo (growth or digestibility assays) measurements has been reviewed. The specific applications and limitations of these methods are examined. In vitro assays are useful in providing information on heat damage in selected protein sources under defined conditions, and on relative ranking of different samples, but they cannot form the basis of practical feed formulations. While growth assays remain the only direct means of confirming nutritional relevance of values obtained by other procedures, in vivo digestibility assays appear to be most useful, at present, to estimate amino acid availability. Amino acid digestibility assays in poultry should be based on the analysis of digesta from the terminal ileum rather than excreta, because of the variable and modifying effects of hindgut microflora. Techniques used to estimate endogenous amino acid losses in poultry are discussed. The needs for correction of endogenous losses in amino acid digestibility calculations and the relative merits of apparent and true digestible amino acid systems are still being debated. It is, however, clear that both digestible amino systems are superior to the total amino acid system currently employed to formulate practical diets. Digestible amino acid values are likely to form the basis of poultry feed formulations in the future. In particular, there is an urgent need for more precise information on the variation in digestible amino acid contents of locally grown ingredients and on the factors causing this variation (e.g. variety, location, season, agronomic practices, processing, etc.).
Chemical and physical characteristics of grains related to variability in energy and amino acid availability in ruminants: a review
01 April 2008
University of Sydney

van Barneveld, Samantha

This paper reviews the carbohydrate, protein, lipid, anti-nutritional, and physical characteristics of grains that determine the variability in their nutritional quality for ruminant animals. The amount, rate, and extent of starch fermentation in the rumen have been the subject of many studies, with large variation found between and within grain species. Electron microscopy scanning techniques have shown that the protein matrix limits the microbial colonisation of starch granules in some grain species, whereas in others it may be the structural carbohydrates that affect colonisation. The composition of the different fibre fractions of grains and their interaction with non-fibre carbohydrates requires investigation, since it has been shown that non-starch polysaccharides, including neutral detergent fibre and acid detergent fibre, may not be specific enough to predict animal response to grain. Fermentation patterns of the non-starch polysaccharide components of legumes are also poorly understood and hence require further investigation. Different varieties of grain and different seasonal conditions show variation in the protein fractions of the kernel. Since these fractions display different solubility and degradation rates in the rumen, rumen solubility values cannot be generalised for grains. The variability in solubility caused by rumen flow rate and pH is a further complication. Finally, the lipid content of grains varies greatly, with high-oil grains potentially contributing to the energy level of the diet, but possibly negatively affecting rumen fermentation. Due to the degree of variability of characteristics discussed in this review, it is clear that the nutritional quality of grains cannot be assessed in a single rapid assay.
Nutritional value of cereal grains for animals
02 April 2008
University of Sydney

Black, J. L

The energy value of cereal grains for livestock varies widely between grains and animal species. For example, the digestible energy content for pigs of wheat and barley grain ranges from 13.3 to 17.0 MJ/kg and 11.7 to 16.0 MJ/kg, respectively. However, the digestible energy content of sorghum grain for pigs shows little variation from 17.0 to 18.0 MJ/kg. Hughes & Choct reported a similar wide range across some grains in apparent metabolisable energy (AME) values for broiler chickens, being from 10.4 to 15.9 MJ/kg for wheat, 10.4 to 13.5 MJ/kg for barley and 8.6 to 16.6 MJ/kg for triticale. The chicken AME values for sorghum and maize, again, show a small range from only 15.6 to 16.1 MJ/kg, with a similar small range for oat grain (11.8 to 12.4 MJ/kg). Significant variation exists between grains in the digestibility of starch within the rumen of cattle, being 0.92 for oat grain, 0.65 for maize and 0.62 for sorghum starch. There are also striking differences between animal species in their capacity to digest cereal starch. The digestibility of sorghum starch across the whole digestive tract of poultry is extremely high (0.99) compared with 0.87 for cattle and 0.30 for horses. Reasons for these observed differences in the energy value of cereal grains are discussed.
The nutritive value of frosted wheat for sheep
28 July 2008
University of Sydney

Richardson, E. C;Kaiser, A. G;Piltz, J. W

The effect of frosting on the nutritive value of wheat grain was determined in a digestibility experiment with sheep. Thirty-six Merino wethers were maintained on diets of lucerne chaff (30%) and whole wheat grain (70%) which was sourced from either severely frosted (SF), lightly frosted (LF) or unfrosted (UF) crops. The experiment was conducted in a repeated balance study with 8 replications per treatment diet for each of the 7 treatment diets, new animals were assigned to the chaff control (treatment diet 8). The diets were offered at the liveweight maintenance level of feeding and the digestibility of the wheat component was calculated by adjusting for the digestibility of the lucerne component. Frosting had a relatively small effect on the nutritive value of wheat grain for sheep. Dry matter digestibility for UF, LF and SF wheats did not differ significantly (0.886, 0.854 and 0.839, respectively), although the SF wheat had a lower digestibility than the UF wheat at P<0.10. The organic matter digestibility, digestible organic matter in the dry matter and estimated metabolisable energy (ME) content were all significantly (P<0.05) lower for SF compared with UF wheat grain (0.856v. 0.908, 0.859v. 0.915 and 13.5v. 14.3 MJ/kg DM respectively). This study demonstrated that wheat from the severely frosted wheat crop had a lower estimated ME content of about 1 MJ/kg DM (equivalent to about 6% less ME) than wheat from the unfrosted crop fed in this study. However, the resultant ME of all samples fed fell within the normal observed ME range for wheat.
Clonal diversity in carcinomas: its implications for tumour progression and the contribution made to it by epithelial-mesenchymal transitions.
21 August 2008
University of Sydney

Lyons, J. Guy;Lobo, Erwin;Martorana, Anna M;Myerscough, Mary R

The progression of tumours to malignancy is commonly considered to arise through lineal evolution, a process in which mutations conferring pro-oncogenic cellular phenotypes are acquired by a succession of ever-more dominant clones. However, this model is at odds with the persistent polyclonality observed in many cancers. We propose that an alternative mechanism for tumour progression, called interclonal cooperativity, is likely to play a role at stages of tumour progression when mutations cause microenvironmental changes, such as occur with epithelial-mesenchymal transitions (EMTs). Interclonal cooperativity occurs when cancer cell-cancer cell interactions produce an emergent malignant phenotype from individually non-malignant clones. In interclonal cooperativity, the oncogenic mutations occur in different clones within the tumour that complement each other and cooperate in order to drive progression. This reconciles the accepted genetic and evolutionary basis of cancers with the observed polyclonality in tumours. Here, we provide a conceptual basis for examining the importance of cancer cell-cancer cell interactions to the behaviour of tumours and propose specific mechanisms by which clonal diversity in tumours, including that provided by EMTs, can drive the progression of tumours to malignancy.
Systematic nonlinear relations between displacement amplitude and joint mechanics at the human wrist
25 September 2008
University of Sydney

Halaki, Mark;O'Dwyer, Nicholas;Cathers, Ian

This study quantified the systematic effects on wrist joint mechanics of changes in amplitude of displacement ranging from within the region of short range stiffness (0.2% of resting muscle length) up to 3% of resting muscle length. The joint mechanics were modelled using a second order system from which estimates of joint stiffness, viscosity, inertia, natural resonant frequency and damping ratio were obtained. With increasing amplitude of displacement, the stiffness decreased by 31%, the viscosity decreased by 73%, the damping ratio decreased by 71% and the resonant frequency decreased from 10.5 Hz to 7.3 Hz. The patterns of change in joint mechanics with displacement amplitude were nonlinear but systematic and were well described by power relationships with high R2 values. These relationships provide normative data for the adult population and may be used in the modelling of human movement, in the study of neurological disorders and in robotics where human movement is simulated. The observed patterns of high initial stiffness and viscosity, decreasing progressively as displacement amplitude increases, may provide a good compromise between postural stability and liveliness of voluntary movement.
Entrainment to extinction of physiological tremor by spindle afferent input
25 September 2008
University of Sydney

Cathers, Ian;O'Dwyer, Nicholas;Neilson, Peter

In this study the systematic modulation of wrist flexor muscle activity by imposed joint movement was examined. Ten subjects maintained a constant contraction level (25% of maximum; trial duration: 20 s) in flexor carpi radialis while their wrists were perturbed with 50 different quasi-sinusoidal signals (frequency range: 0.5 - 9.5 Hz; amplitude: 0.3° - 4.2°). Frequency spectra of wrist position and the rectified and filtered electromyogram (EMG) were determined. The muscle activity was only weakly entrained to imposed movements of small amplitude and low frequency, as shown by a small peak in the EMG spectrum at the frequency of movement, while the most prominent peak in the spectrum was between 9 - 15 Hz, corresponding to the frequency range of physiological tremor. The entrainment of muscle activity increased markedly as the amplitude and frequency of the imposed movement increased, to the point of saturation of modulation and harmonic peaks in the spectrum. In parallel with this increase in entrainment, the 9 - 15 Hz tremor peak was progressively extinguished. The results are consistent with a coupled oscillator model in which the central oscillatory source(s) of tremor became fully entrained to the imposed movement at the highest amplitudes and frequencies. Such coupling depends on communication between the external forcing oscillator and the central oscillator(s), the Ia afferent signal from the imposed movement being the most likely candidate to provide the entraining signal for the central oscillator(s).
Convergent flows: humanities scholars and their interactions with electronic texts
08 October 2008
University of Sydney

Sukovic, Suzana

This article reports research findings related to converging formats, media, practices, and ideas in the process of academics’ interaction with electronic texts during a research project. The findings are part of the results of a study that explored interactions of scholars in literary and historical studies with electronic texts as primary materials. Electronic texts were perceived by the study participants as fluid entities because the electronic environment promotes seamless interactions with a variety of media and formats. Working with electronic texts combines some traditional information and research practices into new patterns of information behavior. The practice called “netchaining” combines aspects of networking with information-seeking practices to establish and shape online information chains, which link sources and people. Different forms of exploration of participants’ research questions were enabled by interactions with electronic texts.
Associations between overweight and obesity and risk factors for cardiovascular disease and fatty liver in young offenders serving community orders
01 December 2008
University of Sydney

Denney-Wilson, Elizabeth;Kenny, Dianna T;Hardy, Louise;Nelson, Paul

Purpose: The health of young offenders supervised in the community has not been previously studied. This paper describes the prevalence of overweight, obesity and obesity associated cardiovascular and hepatic risk factors in a sample of young offenders supervised in the community in New South Wales, Australia. Methods: During 2003-2005, 802 (85% male) young offenders took part in a comprehensive health survey that included direct measurement of height and weight as well as blood sampling. Results: The prevalence of combined overweight and obesity was 33.7% in boys and 35.3% in girls; both rates were higher than those of a comparable community sample. Cardiovascular risk factor prevalence was extremely high compared with other published studies, with over 90% of boys and almost 80% of girls having low levels of HDL cholesterol, and over 40% of both boys and girls having elevated LDL cholesterol. Risk factors for fatty liver disease were also prevalent with almost 15% of boys, and 30% of girls having raised ALT suggesting hepatic cell injury. Cardiovascular and fatty liver disease risk factors were significantly associated with overweight and obesity among boys, but not girls in this sample. Young people of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander decent were at no greater risk than the rest of the population. Conclusions: Young offenders are among the most disadvantaged people in Australian society and are particularly vulnerable to a range of health problems. The high prevalence of risk factors represents a substantial health burden for these young people in early adulthood. Timely intervention is required to address the complex health needs of this under-served population.
Reliability of self-report of health in juvenile offenders
01 December 2008
University of Sydney

Kenny, Dianna T;Grant, Jennifer

The aim of the present study was to investigate the accuracy of self-reports of juvenile offenders on physical factors (e.g., sleep difficulties, weight related behaviors and weight perceptions), health risk behaviors (e.g., alcohol use), trauma history (e.g., physical and sexual abuse) and psychological factors (e.g., anxiety, suicidal and self-harm behaviors). Self-reports obtained via a Health Questionnaire from 242 incarcerated juvenile offenders were compared with standardized measures (Body Mass Index, Adolescent Psychopathology Scale and Child Trauma Questionnaire) to investigate the reliability (via construct validity) and veracity of their self-report. Using kappa estimates and receiver operating characteristic curves, results generally showed high agreement across measures, suggesting that self-report questions from the health survey could all be used reliably. The degree of accuracy indicated that young offenders are as reliable as clinical and community samples of adolescents in their self-report. These findings have implications for routine assessments and practice evaluations that rely on self-report as the method of data collection and as the basis for clinical formulation and treatment planning.
Moral reasoning of adolescent male offenders: Comparison of sexual and nonsexual offenders
11 December 2008
University of Sydney

Ashkar, Peter J;Kenny, Dianna T

This study compared the moral reasoning abilities of juvenile sex and non-sex offenders using a novel methodology that explored their responses to moral questions in a variety of offending contexts. Seven sexual and nine nonsexual adolescent male offenders from a maximum security detention facility in New South Wales, Australia, were presented with a variety of hypothetical offending situations involving sexual and non sexual offences and asked to discuss these. It was hypothesised that the quality of moral reasoning employed by offenders would be impaired in those offending contexts in which they had prior experience. Responses were assessed using a modified version of the Moral Judgment Interview Standard Issue Scoring Manual (MJI; Colby & Kohlberg, 1987). Assigned levels of moral reasoning ability were verified independently by two expert raters. Responses by sexual offenders in sexual offending contexts and by nonsexual offenders in nonsexual offending contexts were dominated by preconventional reasoning. Both groups employed a greater use of conventional reasoning in non-congruent offending contexts.
The relationship between neutralizations and perceived delinquent labeling on criminal history in young offenders serving community orders
11 December 2008
University of Sydney

Cechaviciute, Ieva;Kenny, Dianna T

This study examined the associations between young offenders’ justifications for delinquent behavior, their perceptions of being labeled “delinquent,” and criminal history. Participants were 153 young offenders (aged 14 to 19 years) serving community orders with the New South Wales Department of Juvenile Justice, Australia. They completed a questionnaire that assessed their use of justifications for offending (neutralizations) and their perceptions of being delinquent. More than half of young offenders (53.6%) did not believe that others labeled them as “delinquent”. Those who did believe that others labeled them as “delinquent” (28.8%) self-reported more delinquency and other problem behaviors, but did not a have more serious official criminal history than ‘unlabeled’ offenders. Factor analysis revealed a two-factor structure (minimization and rationalization) for the neutralization items. Neutralization factors were weak predictors of official criminal history, but stronger predictors of self-reported delinquency and other problem behaviors. Age at first court appearance and rationalizations successfully discriminated 66.7% of the young offenders who thought others labeled them as “delinquents”. Findings are discussed with reference to the implications for risk and responsivity principles in the treatment of young offenders.
Ngarluma as a W* language
27 January 2009
University of Sydney

Simpson, Jane

An account of the morpho-syntax of Ngarluma, an Australian language spoken in the Pilbara, is given based on Kenneth Hale's fieldnotes together with Carl von Brandenstein's published texts. The analysis uses the W* framework proposed by Kenneth Hale, to describe the free word order, discontinuous phrases, valence-changing suffixes, case system and use of case to indicate identity of controllers.
Oxaliplatin induces drug resistance more rapidly than cisplatin in H69 small cell lung cancer cells
24 February 2009
University of Sydney

Stordal, Britta K;Davey, Mary W;Davey, Ross

Cisplatin produces good responses in solid tumours including small cell lung cancer (SCLC) but this is limited by the development of resistance. Oxaliplatin is reported to show activity against some cisplatin-resistant cancers but there is little known about oxaliplatin in SCLC and there are no reports of oxaliplatin resistant SCLC cell lines. Studies of drug resistance mainly focus on the cellular resistance mechanisms rather than how the cells develop resistance. This study examines the development of cisplatin and oxaliplatin resistance in H69 human SCLC cells in response to repeated treatment with clinically relevant doses of cisplatin or oxaliplatin for either 4 days or 2h. Treatments with 200ng/ml cisplatin or 400ng/ml oxaliplatin for 4 days produced sublines (H69CIS200 and H69OX400 respectively) that showed low level (approximately 2-fold)resistance after 8 treatments. Treatments with 1000ng/ml cisplatin or 2000ng/ml oxaliplatin for 2h also produced sublines, however these were not stably resistant suggesting shorter treatment pulses of drug may be more effective. Cells survived the first five treatments without any increase in resistance, by arresting their growth for a period and then regrowing. The period of growth arrest was reduced after the sixth treatment and the H69CIS200 and H69OX400 sublines showed a reduced growth arrest in response to cisplatin and oxaliplatin treatment suggesting that "regrowth resistance" initially protected against drug treatment and this was further upregulated and became part of the resistance phenotype of these sublines. Oxaliplatin dose escalation produced more surviving sublines than cisplatin dose escalation but neither set of sublines were associated with increased resistance as determined by 5-day cytotoxicity assays, also suggesting the involvement of regrowth resistance. The resistant sublines showed no change in platinum accumulation or glutathione levels even though the H69OX400 subline was more sensitive to buthionine sulfoximine treatment. The H69CIS200 cells were cross-resistant to oxaliplatin demonstrating that oxaliplatin does not have activity against low level cisplatin resistance. Relative to the H69 cells, the H69CIS200 and H69OX400 sublines were more sensitive to paclitaxel and taxotere suggests the taxanes may be useful in the treatment of platinum resistant SCLC. These novel cellular models of cisplatin and oxaliplatin resistant SCLC will be useful in developing strategies to treat platinum-resistant SCLC.
Oxaliplatin for the treatment of cisplatin-resistant cancer: a systematic review
24 February 2009
University of Sydney

Stordal, Britta;Pavlakis, Nick;Davey, Ross

Oxaliplatin is widely regarded as being active in cisplatin-resistant cancer. We undertook a systematic review of the literature to identify, describe and critique the clinical and pre-clinical evidence for the use of oxaliplatin in patients with “cisplatin-resistant” cancer. We identified 25 pre-clinical cell models of platinum resistance and 24 clinical trials reporting oxaliplatin based salvage therapy for cisplatin-resistant cancer. The pre-clinical data suggests that there is cross-resistance between cisplatin and oxaliplatin in low-level resistance models. In models with high level resistance (>10 fold) there is less cross resistance between cisplatin and oxaliplatin, which may be a reason why oxaliplatin is thought to be active in cisplatin-resistant cancer. In clinical trials where oxaliplatin has been used as part of salvage therapy for patients who have failed cisplatin or carboplatin combination chemotherapy, there was a much lower response rate in patients with platinum-refractory or resistant cancers compared to platinum-sensitive cancers. This suggests that there may be cross-resistance between cisplatin and oxaliplatin in the clinic. Oxaliplatin as a single agent had a poor response rate in cisplatin refractory and resistant cancer. Oxaliplatin performed better in combination with other agents for the treatment of platinum resistant/refractory cancer suggesting that the benefit of oxaliplatin may lie in its more favourable toxicity and ability to be combined with other drugs rather than an underlying activity in cisplatin resistance. Oxaliplatin therefore should not be considered broadly active in cisplatin-resistant cancer.
Understanding cisplatin resistance using cellular models
24 February 2009
University of Sydney

Stordal, Britta;Davey, Mary W

Many mechanisms of cisplatin resistance have been proposed from studies of cellular models of resistance including changes in cellular drug accumulation, detoxification of the drug, inhibition of apoptosis and repair of the DNA adducts. A series of resistant models were developed from CCRF-CEM leukaemia cells with increasing doses of cisplatin from 100 ng/ml. This produced increasing resistance up to 7-fold with a treatment dose of 1.6 μg/ml. Cisplatin resistance in these cells correlated with increases in the antioxidant glutathione, yet treatment with buthionine sulphoximine, an inhibitor of glutathione synthesis, had no effect on resistance, suggesting that the increase in glutathione was not directly involved in cisplatin resistance. Two models were developed from H69 SCLC cells, H69-CP and H69CIS200 using 100 ng/ml or 200 ng/ml cisplatin respectively. Both cell models were 2-4 fold resistant to cisplatin, and have decreased expression of p21 which may increase the cell’s ability to progress through the cell cycle in the presence of DNA damage. Both the H69-CP and H69CIS200 cells showed no decrease in cellular cisplatin accumulation. However, the H69-CP cells have increased levels of cellular glutathione and are cross resistant to radiation whereas the H69CIS200 cells have neither of these changes. This suggests that increases in glutathione may contribute to cross-resistance to other drugs and radiation, but not directly to cisplatin resistance. There are multiple resistance mechanisms induced by cisplatin treatment, even in the same cell type. How then should cisplatin-resistant cancers be treated? Cisplatin-resistant cell lines are often more sensitive to another chemotherapeutic drug paclitaxel (H69CIS200), or are able to be sensitised to cisplatin with paclitaxel pre-treatment (H69-CP). The understanding of this sensitisation by paclitaxel using cell models of cisplatin resistance will lead to improvements in the clinical treatment of cisplatin resistant tumours.
A systematic review of platinum and taxane resistance from bench to clinic: an inverse relationship
24 February 2009
University of Sydney

Stordal, Britta;Pavlakis, Nick;Davey, Ross

We undertook a systematic review of the pre-clinical and clinical literature for studies investigating the relationship between platinum and taxane resistance. Medline was searched for 1) cell models of acquired drug resistance reporting platinum and taxane sensitivities and 2) clinical trials of platinum or taxane salvage therapy in ovarian cancer. 137 models of acquired drug resistance were identified. 68.1% of cisplatin-resistant cells were sensitive to paclitaxel and 66.7% of paclitaxel-resistant cells were sensitive to cisplatin. A similar inverse pattern was observed for cisplatin vs docetaxel, carboplatin vs paclitaxel and carboplatin vs docetaxel. These associations were independent of cancer type, agents used to develop resistance and reported mechanisms of resistance. 65 eligible clinical trials of paclitaxel-based salvage after platinum therapy were identified. Studies of single agent paclitaxel in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer where patients had previously recieved paclitaxel had a pooled response rate of 35.3% n=232, compared to 22% in paclitaxel naïve patients n=1918 (p<0.01 Chi-squared). Suggesting that pre-treatment with paclitaxel may improve the response of salvage paclitaxel therapy. The response rate to paclitaxel/platinum combination regimens in platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer was 79.5% n=88 compared to 49.4% n=85 for paclitaxel combined with other agents (p<0.001 Chi-squared), suggesting a positive interaction between taxanes and platinum. Therefore the inverse relationship between platinum and taxanes resistance seen in cell models is mirrored in the clinical response to these agents in ovarian cancer. An understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible would be valuable in predicting response to salvage chemotherapy and may identify new therapeutic targets.
Feminine sexual subjectivities: Bodies, agency and life history
12 March 2009
University of Sydney

Bryant, Joanne;Schofield, Toni

The relationship between discourse, sex and the body has attracted sustained interest from scholars in sociology and cultural studies over the last twenty years. It is only recently, however, that sociological analyses of sexuality have begun to explore the specificity of the body and its relationship to human agency. This work suggests that, far from serving as a passive surface upon which sexual scripts are inscribed, the body in sexual action is itself a dynamic force in generating sexual subjectivities. This is related to the way that the praxeological aspects of sex are always corporeal and that corporeality is indivisibly related to individual agency. The specific configuration of sexual practices is central to the making of sexual identities. Indeed, it is through such a configuration that the sexual subject is brought into being. Yet human agency is a central feature of the process, rendering it a project that develops over time. Such an idea is particularly relevant to feminists who are concerned with the way that feminine sexual subjectivity can be theorised as active and desiring. This paper explores the way in which the body is implicated in sex practice and the making of active feminine sexual subjectivities. In doing so, it draws on qualitative data collected from life history interviews with eighteen women.
Moving along the grammaticalisation path: Locative and Allative marking of non-finite clauses and secondary predications in Australian languages
19 May 2009
University of Sydney

McConvell, Patrick;Simpson, Jane

This paper examines three grammaticalised instances of local case-marking in Indigenous languages of northern Central Australia, coded as follows: (AN) Allative expressing object control on NP’s - the use of allative instead of locative in the meaning of ‘locative’ in a secondary predication where the subject of that predication has the same reference as an object or oblique in the main predication; (LS) Locative marked subordination the use of locative case-marking on the verb and other elements to mark types of non-finite subordinate clauses; (AS) Allative marked subordination expressing object control, combining features of A and LS, usually where LS is also present. The different distributions of these properties are plotted in a number of Central and northern Australian languages to provide a picture of current distribution and hypotheses about the origin of these constructions. The hypothesis proposed here is that the AN construction arose in a group of Pama-Nyungan languages in a restricted area of North-central Australia and partially overlapped with the presence of the LS construction in a wider grouping of Pama-Nyungan languages. This cooccurrence produced the AS construction, which subsequently diffused to a few neighbouring languages, including some Non-Pama-Nyungan languages. Both AN and AS can be called grammaticalisation since they depart from the semantic functions of the locational cases to mark control phenomena between predications. The marking of subordinate clauses by local cases, and particularly locative case, is relatively common cross-linguistically outside Australia and arguably maintains some cognitive metaphorical link with static location and motion, perhaps primarily through the near-universal ‘space=time’ metaphor. In AN, we see a much rarer development in which the metaphorical link between the concrete local meaning and the grammatical function is attenuated, although the possibility that AN involves ‘fictive motion’ as in Finnic languages is discussed.
Research data and repository metadata. Policy and technical issues at the University of Sydney Library.
27 May 2009
University of Sydney

Brownlee, Rowan

The University of Sydney Library’s repository contains research outputs primarily comprising traditional publication types. Many academics manage data collections within databases and spreadsheets using metadata dissimilar to the repository’s Dublin Core schema. During 2007 and 2008 the author explored issues surrounding submission of a small range of research data collections and associated metadata. Native metadata structures were analysed and mapped to DC and scripts translated, packaged and transferred collections. This paper discusses metadata management and repository service levels and sustainability. It describes the Library’s approach to defining service requirements and includes discussion of various metadata management options. It also describes related activities within the University of Sydney to develop eResearch services and to harmonise the roles and relationships of eResearch support service providers
On-line sexuality education and health professional students’ comfort in dealing with sexual issues.
09 June 2009
University of Sydney

Weerakoon, Patricia

A study of comfort level for sexually related topics in a sample of allied health professional students shows an improvement in their comfort level after completing an online sexuality unit. This finding supports the argument that modern technology can offer an excellent opportunity and means to develop personal and professional skills in sexually related issues. Raising the comfort levels of health professional students will better prepare them for professional interaction on sexually related issues they could encounter with their clients. Future research examining different ways to build not only comfort levels but also professional communication skills is warranted. The current and future research would aid in development of new programs based on distant education platforms, which could provide effective ways of appropriate sexual interventions education for health professionals in clinical settings.
Doctors' perspectives on PSA testing illuminate established differences in prostate cancer screening rates between Australia and the UK: a qualitative study.
05 November 2009
University of Sydney

Pickles, K;Carter, SM;Rychetnik, L;Entwistle, V

Objectives To examine how general practitioners (GPs) in the UK and GPs in Australia explain their prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing practices and to illuminate how these explanations are similar and how they are different. Design A grounded theory study. Setting Primary care practices in Australia and the UK. Participants 69 GPs in Australia (n=40) and the UK (n=29). We included GPs of varying ages, sex, clinical experience and patient populations. All GPs interested in participating in the study were included. Results GPs' accounts revealed fundamental differences in whether and how prostate cancer screening occurred in their practice and in the broader context within which they operate. The history of prostate screening policy, organisational structures and funding models appeared to drive more prostate screening in Australia and less in the UK. In Australia, screening processes and decisions were mostly at the discretion of individual clinicians, and varied considerably, whereas the accounts of UK GPs clearly reflected a consistent, organisationally embedded approach based on local evidence-based recommendations to discourage screening. Conclusions The GP accounts suggested that healthcare systems, including historical and current organisational and funding structures and rules, collectively contribute to how and why clinicians use the PSA test and play a significant role in creating the mindlines that GPs employ in their clinic. Australia's recently released consensus guidelines may support more streamlined and consistent care. However, if GP mindlines and thus routine practice in Australia are to shift, to ultimately reduce unnecessary or harmful prostate screening, it is likely that other important drivers at all levels of the screening process will need to be addressed.
A 39 kDa fragment of endogenous ASK1 suggests specific cleavage not degradation by the proteasome
11 November 2009
University of Sydney

Stordal, Britta;Davey, Ross

Transfected human ASK1 produces a 150kDa protein. However, we have detected endogenous ASK1 predominantly as 39kDa and 50kDa C-terminal and 75kDa and 110kDa N-terminal fragments in a panel of non-transfected cancer cell lines and HUVEC endothelial cells. This suggests that in non-apoptotic cells, endogenous ASK1 protein is normally cleaved at a number of specific sites, some of which are in the kinase domain. Transfected ASK1 protein is known to be degraded by the proteasome. In contrast, the cleavage of endogenous ASK1 is independent of the proteasome as treatment with the proteasome inhibitor, lactacystin did not inhibit cleavage. Cisplatin treatment decreased the amount of 39kDa C-terminal ASK1 fragment in mutant p53 cell lines suggesting a decrease in cleavage associated with apoptosis. Transfected ASK1 may therefore not accurately reflect the role of endogenous ASK1.
ERCC1 expression and RAD51B activity correlate with cell cycle response to platinum drug treatment not DNA repair
11 November 2009
University of Sydney

Stordal, Britta;Davey, Ross

Background: The H69CIS200 and H69OX400 cell lines are novel models of low- level platinum-drug resistance. Resistance was not associated with increased cellular glutathione or decreased accumulation of platinum, rather the resistant cell lines have a cell cycle alteration allowing them to rapidly proliferate post drug treatment. Results: A decrease in ERCC1 protein expression and an increase in RAD51B foci activity was observed in association with the platinum induced cell cycle arrest but these changes did not correlate with resistance or altered DNA repair capacity. The H69 cells and resistant cell lines have a p53 mutation and consequently decrease expression of p21 in response to platinum drug treatment, promoting progression of the cell cycle instead of increasing p21 to maintain the arrest. Conclusion: Decreased ERCC1 protein and increased RAD51B foci may in part be mediating the maintenance of the cell cycle arrest in the sensitive cells. Resistance in the H69CIS200 and H69OX400 cells may therefore involve the regulation of ERCC1 and RAD51B independent of their roles in DNA repair. The novel mechanism of platinum resistance in the H69CIS200 and H69OX400 cells demonstrates the multifactorial nature of platinum resistance which can occur independently of alterations in DNA repair capacity and changes in ERCC1.
Characterization of the antimicrobial peptide family defensins in the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), koala (Phascolarctos cinereus), and tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii)
01 January 2010
University of Sydney

Jones, Elizabeth A.;Cheng, Yuanyuan;O'Meally, Denis;Belov, Katherine

Defensins comprise a family of cysteine-rich antimicrobial peptides with important roles in innate and adaptive immune defense in vertebrates. We characterized alpha and beta defensin genes in three Australian marsupials: the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), koala (Phascolarctos cinereus), and tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii) and identified 48, 34, and 39 defensins, respectively. One hundred and twelve have the classical antimicrobial peptides characteristics required for pathogen membrane targeting, including cationic charge (between 1+ and 15+) and a high proportion ofhydrophobic residues (>30%). Phylogenetic analysis shows that gene duplication has driven unique and species-specific expansions of devil, koala, and tammar wallaby beta defensins and devil alpha defensins. Defensin genes are arranged in three genomic clusters in marsupials, whereas further duplications and translocations have occurred in eutherians resulting in four and five gene clusters in mice and humans, respectively. Marsupial defensins are generally under purifying selection, particularly residues essential for defensin structural stability. Certain hydrophobic or positively charged sites, predominantly found in the defensin loop, are positively selected, which may have functional significance in defensin-target interaction and membrane insertion.
How Warumungu people express new concepts
14 January 2010
University of Sydney

Simpson, Jane

This article describes strategies used by Warumungu speakers to create new words and ways of expressing new concepts, in the context of multilingual society in which speakers of Indigenous Australian languages view language as a property. The strategies include borrowing, onomatopoeia, compounding, derivation, extension of existing words, including polysemous extensions such as actual/potential and container/contained
Author Profiling for English and Arabic Emails
08 February 2010
University of Sydney

Estival, Dominique;Gaustad, Tanja;Hutchinson, Ben;Pham, Son Bao;Radford, Will

This paper reports on some aspects of a research project aimed at automating the analysis of texts for the purpose of author profiling and identification. The Text Attribution Tool (TAT) was developed for the purpose of language-independent author profiling and has now been trained on two email corpora, English and Arabic. The complete analysis provides probabilities for the author’s basic demographic traits (gender, age, geographic origin, level of education and native language) as well as for five psychometric traits. The prototype system also provides a probability of a match with other texts, whether from known or unknown authors. A very important part of the project was the data collection and we give an overview of the collection process as well as a detailed description of the corpus of email data which was collected. We describe the overall TAT system and its components before outlining the ways in which the email data is processed and analysed. Because Arabic presents particular challenges for NLP, this paper also describes more specifically the text processing components developed to handle Arabic emails. Finally, we describe the Machine Learning setup used to produce classifiers for the different author traits and we present the experimental results, which are promising for most traits examined.
Redden, G. (2003). "Read the Whole Thing: Journalism, Weblogs and the Re-mediation of the War in Iraq."
11 February 2010
University of Sydney

Redden, Guy

The Net’s uses are now diverse, covering many aspects of commerical, public and private life. The idea that it transforms all activities in the same or equivalent ways is no longer tenable. This paper examines a particular form of online activity—weblogging, and how it has allowed for specific new forms of popular political communication in the context of the Second Gulf War. After describing the basics of weblogging, the paper discusses Western media coverage of the war and then shows how ‘warbloggers’ positioned themselves vis-à-vis media coverage and propaganda, creating commentaries that frequently combined media and political criticism. While bloggers of every political hue offered a range of perspectives and personal styles, some general tendencies are evident in warblogging discourse. The piece ends by questioning the significance of warblogging in terms of its potential contribution to democratic communication.
The Great British Binge Drinking Debate
11 February 2010
University of Sydney

Redden, Guy

Guy Redden questions some of the assumptions behind recent measures to discourage binge drinking.
Challenges in assessing the characteristics of influential public health research.
18 May 2010
University of Sydney

Derrick, Gemma E.;Hall, Wayne D;Haynes, Abby S;Chapman, Simon;Redman, Sally;Leeder, Stephen R;Sturk, Heidi

The development of frameworks to effectively measure both the scientific and social impact of research is a topic of international debate. This paper examines how Australian public health researchers in six fields (alcohol, drugs, injury, obesity, skin cancer and tobacco) classified the scientific and social impact of what they judged to be their five most influential papers. We compared classifications of researchers rated as most influential by their peers with those not as highly ranked. Highly ranked researchers more often indicated social impact characteristics (Χ2 = 8.13; P = 0.004) than their less influential colleagues. Traditional measures of scientific impact (publication in high impact journals and high citations) were nominated by all researchers regardless of peer-nominated research influence status. There was strong consensus on who were the most influential researchers in five of the six research fields examined. This would appear to provide a sound platform on which to base more qualitative, interview or portfolio-based investigations into the complexities of wider conceptions of research and researcher influence.
Architecture Studio Archive: A case study in the comprehensive digital capture and repository of student design work as an aid to teaching, research and accreditation
18 May 2010
University of Sydney

Anderson, Ross;Arndell, Michael;Christensen, Sten

The ‘Architecture Studio Archive’ pilot sought to form a comprehensive digital archive of the diverse student work conducted in the first year of the Bachelor of Design in Architecture Degree at the University of Sydney. The design studio is the primary vehicle for teaching architectural design. It is a locus for creative activity, with students producing diverse works in analogue and digital media (sketches, final hand and CAD drawings, conceptual and scale models and written work). Following assessment, they either take their work home or abandon it to potential damage in the studio. There is generally little record of its existence for future reference. This project promised the retention of this material and the production of a powerful, searchable digital archive in the Sydney eScholarship Repository using the open access digital management system DSpace for long-term storage and dissemination of the material. The intention was to establish procedures and protocols for digital archiving practices suitable to creative work. This article documents the project as a case study from its inception, through the development of archival procedures and protocols, to loading of the work by students, and its subsequent use as a resource for teaching, research, accreditation and promotion.
From ‘our world’ to the ‘real world’: exploring the behaviour of policy-influential Australian public health researchers
09 June 2010
University of Sydney

Haynes, Abby S;Derrick, Gemma E.;Redman, S;Chapman, Simon;Hall, W.D.;Gillespie, James;Sturk, H.

Research and researchers influence the genesis and development of public health policy in limited but essential ways. Surveys and interviews with 36 peer-nominated “highly influential” Australian public health researchers found they engaged in a breadth of strategies that included rigorous but targeted research design, multilateral collaboration, multiple methods of research dissemination and promotion (including tactical use of the media), and purposeful development of bridging relationships. Researchers’ ability to understand the worlds of research, policy and the media and to speak their languages (or to work with others who fulfilled this role) was a key factor. Advocacy, a fundamental strategy for some, was disparaged by others. Influential behaviours were guided by values and beliefs about the principles underlying traditional science and the contrasting ethos of contemporary research.
Medical interns' reflections on their training in use of personal protective equipment
08 November 2010
University of Sydney

Barratt, Ruth;Wyer, Mary;Hor, Su-yin;Gilbert, Gwendolyn L.

BACKGROUND: The current COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that personal protective equipment (PPE) is essential, to prevent the acquisition and transmission of infectious diseases, yet its use is often sub-optimal in the clinical setting. Training and education are important to ensure and sustain the safe and effective use of PPE by medical interns, but current methods are often inadequate in providing the relevant knowledge and skills. The purpose of this study was to explore medical graduates' experiences of the use of PPE and identify opportunities for improvement in education and training programmes, to improve occupational and patient safety. METHODS: This study was undertaken in 2018 in a large tertiary-care teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, to explore medical interns' self-reported experiences of PPE use, at the beginning of their internship. Reflexive groups were conducted immediately after theoretical and practical PPE training, during hospital orientation. Transcripts of recorded discussions were analysed, using a thematic approach that drew on the COM-B (capability, opportunity, motivation - behaviour) framework for behaviour. RESULTS: 80% of 90 eligible graduates participated. Many interns had not previously received formal training in the specific skills required for optimal PPE use and had developed potentially unsafe habits. Their experiences as medical students in clinical areas contrasted sharply with recommended practice taught at hospital orientation and impacted on their ability to cultivate correct PPE use. CONCLUSIONS: Undergraduate teaching should be consistent with best practice PPE use, and include practical training that embeds correct and safe practices.
Crime Prevention Practice Paper 1: An Overview of CPTED DCPs and Related Council Policies in NSW
15 February 2011
University of Sydney

Clancey, Garner;Chiu, Dave Yue Kim

Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) is increasingly adopted by councils across New South Wales (NSW). This can be done in a variety of ways. Introducing Development Control Plans (DCPs) focusing on CPTED or integrating CPTED into larger DCPs are two key ways that this has been achieved. This Crime Prevention Practice Paper provides an overview of some of the methods used by councils to embed CPTED into local planning regimes and provides examples of documents developed by various NSW councils.
A survey of Koha in Australian special libraries : open source brings new opportunities to the outback
01 April 2011
University of Sydney

Keast, Donald

Since 2007, the library management systems landscape has changed markedly, with a variety of open source systems gaining an increasing share of the market. In Australia, penetration by open source systems has been led by the recent adoption of Koha by an increasing number of libraries. This paper presents a case study of Koha in a rural health library setting, and then presents the results of the first survey of Australian Koha users regarding the viability and practicality of this popular open source system. This survey encompasses both libraries using Koha support companies, and also some which have self-installed systems.
References to e-texts in academic publications
12 April 2011
University of Sydney

Sukovic, Suzana

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore roles of electronic texts (e-texts) in research enquiry in literary and historical studies, and to deepen the understanding of the nature of scholars’ engagement with e-texts as primary materials. The study includes an investigation of references to e-texts and discussions about researchers’ citation practices in interviews. Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative methodology was used to explore scholars’ interactions with e-texts in 30 research projects. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was used to examine citations and any other acknowledgments of e-texts in participants' prepublications and published works. In-depth semi-structured interviews provided data for findings about researchers’ citation practices. Findings – Formal acknowledgments of e-texts do not represent the depth and breadth of researchers’ interactions with e-texts. Assessments of the relevance and trustworthiness of e-texts, as well as considerations of disciplinary cultures, had some impact on researchers’ citation practices. Research limitations/implications – The study was based on in-depth data-gathering from a small group of participants. It does not have any statistical significance and the findings cannot be generalized, but comparisons with other scholars in literary and historical studies are possible. The study indicated a need for further investigation of changing academic practices in general and citation practices in particular. Practical implications – The findings have implications for the development of standards and institutional support for research in the humanities. Originality/value – The study provides new insights into the phenomenon of a very small number of citations of electronic sources in publications in the humanities, and considers issues related to citations from the perspective of changing academic cultures. Keywords - User studies, Information studies, Researchers, Humanities, Research Paper type - Research paper
Information discovery in ambiguous zones of research
12 April 2011
University of Sydney

Sukovic, Suzana

Electronic environments for information discovery are considered in relation to open-ended and dynamic research practices in the humanities, but a system suitable for these scholars would have many other applications as well. Considerations of flexible electronic environments that would support research are based on the holistic view of information processes and the requirements that information systems enable connections, as well as the trustworthiness and authenticity of information. The proposed electronic environment consists of flexible networks of connections between information of different granularity. Strong and weak information paths are established through use, which contributes to the development and informational value of the system. Organizational support, as well as new forms of information provision and services, are required to enable novel approaches to information discovery and research.
Reviewer refusal rates for 300,866 requested reviews in 20 BMJ Group journals
25 May 2011
University of Sydney

Chapman, Simon

Data were extracted from the BenchPress editorial management system for 20 journals which each had data for the years 2002-2010.We examined whether there were differences among journals on reviewer refusal rates. Across all journals, nearly one in three requests to review were declined (range 21.2-39.8).
‘Disease, Disaster and Despair’? The Presentation of Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries on Australian Television
28 June 2011
University of Sydney

Imison, Michelle;Chapman, Simon

In high-income nations mainstream television news remains an important source of information about both general health issues and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, research on news coverage of health in LMICs is scarce. The present paper examines the general features of Australian television coverage of LMIC health issues, testing the hypotheses that this coverage conforms to the general patterns of foreign news reporting in high-income countries and, in particular, that LMIC health coverage will largely reflect Australian interests. We analysed relevant items from May 2005 – December 2009 from the largest health-related television dataset of its kind, classifying each story on the basis of the region(s) it covered, principal content relating to health in LMICs and the presence of an Australian reference point. LMICs that are culturally proximate and politically significant to Australia had higher levels of reportage than more distant and unengaged nations. Items concerning communicable diseases, injury and aspects of child health generally consonant with ‘disease, disaster and despair’ news frames predominated, with relatively little emphasis given to chronic diseases which are increasingly prevalent in many LMICs. Forty-two percent of LMIC stories had explicit Australian content, such as imported medical expertise or health risk to Australians in LMICs. Media consumers’ perceptions of disease burdens in LMICs and of these nations’ capacity to identify and manage their own health priorities may be distorted by the major news emphasis on exotic disease, disaster and despair stories. Such perceptions may inhibit the development of appropriate policy emphases in high-income countries. In this context, non-government organisations concerned with international development may find it more difficult to strike a balance between crises and enduring issues in their health programming and fundraising efforts.
Media Miracles: The Separation of Conjoined Twins, and Reflections on Minimal Television News Coverage of Health from Low- and Middle-Income Countries
28 June 2011
University of Sydney

Imison, Michelle;Chapman, Simon

Australian television news and current affairs remain an important source of information for domestic audiences about both health and low- and middle-income countries. In November 2009, the successful surgical separation in Australia of conjoined infant twins from Bangladesh generated large-scale domestic media interest. In the 66 months to October 2010, only 75 health-related stories about Bangladesh were broadcast on Sydney television, 70 of them (93%) about these twins. Drawing on the television database of the Australian Health News Research Collaboration, this paper presents a thematic analysis of the Australian television news and current affairs coverage of the twins and why their case attained such a profile relative to other coverage of health from this nation. In addition to the predictable newsworthiness of a rare and bizarre medical condition and the made-for-television tension inherent in the saga of their arrival, preparation and eventual lengthy operation, prominent themes centred around the story’s opportunities to praise Australian individuals, medical skill and national character. The focus in this story on identified individuals with an uncommon condition requiring tertiary medical intervention only available in a high-income nation contrasts with a lack of coverage of, or critical consideration for, the well-being of anonymous individuals or less culturally-favoured groups, more long-term and mundane health considerations or any broader social or financial context to health issues in low- and middle-income countries. Reportage of foreign health issues appears contingent on the availability of populist ‘rule of rescue’ news frames, arresting footage and dramatic narratives that resonate with audiences’ expectations of such nations. The analysis offered in this paper illuminates the potential implications of such reporting for the wider news space available to health stories from low- and middle-income countries.
Italian traditional music in Adelaide
06 July 2011
University of Sydney

Barwick, Linda

This article questions the framing of Italian and other immigrant music traditions within Australian folklore studies. It discusses the fundamental diversity of regional musical cultures brought by Australia's immigrants from Italy and some examples of performances in various contexts in Adelaide in the 1970s and 1980s. Includes musical transcriptions and English translations of song texts.
Seeing slow and seeing fast: Two limits on perception
11 July 2011
University of Sydney

Holcombe, Alex

Video cameras have a single temporal limit set by the frame rate. The human visual system has multiple temporal limits set by its various constituent mechanisms. These limits appear to form two groups. A fast group comprises specialized mechanisms for extracting perceptual qualities such as motion direction, depth, and edges. The second group, with coarse temporal resolution, includes judgments of the pairing of color and motion, the joint identification of arbitrary spatially separated features, the recognition of words, and high-level motion. These temporally coarse percepts may all be mediated by high-level processes. Working at very different timescales, the two groups of mechanisms collaborate to create our unified visual experience.
Response rates track the history of reinforcement times
26 September 2011
University of Sydney

Harris, Justin A;Gharaei, Saba;Pincham, Hannah L

When conditioning involves a consistent temporal relationship between the conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US), the expression of conditioned responses within a trial peaks at the usual time of the US relative to the CS. Here we examine the temporal profile of responses during conditioning with variable CS-US intervals. We conditioned stimuli with either uniformly distributed or exponentially distributed random CS-US intervals. In the former case, the frequency of each CS-US interval within a specified range is uniform but the momentary probability of the US (the hazard function) increases as time elapses during the trial; with the latter distribution, short CS-US intervals are more frequent than longer intervals, but the momentary probability of the US is constant across time within the trial. We report that, in a magazine approach paradigm, rats’ response rates remained stable as time elapses during the CS when the CS-US intervals were uniformly distributed, whereas their response rates declined when the CS-US intervals were exponentially distributed. In other words, the profile of responding during the CS matched the frequency distribution of the US times, not the momentary probability of the US during the CS. These results are inconsistent with real-time associative models, which predict that associative strength tracks the momentary probability of the US, but may provide support for timing models of conditioning in which conditioned responding is tied to remembered times of reinforcement.
The acquisition of conditioned responding
26 September 2011
University of Sydney

Harris, Justin A

This report analyzes the acquisition of conditioned responses in rats trained in a magazine approach paradigm. Following the suggestion by Gallistel, Fairhurst and Balsam (2004), Weibull functions were fitted to the trial-by-trial response rates of individual rats. These showed that the emergence of responding was often delayed, after which the response rate would increase relatively gradually across trials. The fit of the Weibull function to the behavioral data of each rat was equaled by that of a cumulative exponential function incorporating a response threshold. Thus the growth in conditioning strength on each trial can be modeled by the derivative of the exponential – a difference term of the form used in many models of associative learning (e.g., Rescorla & Wagner, 1972). Further analyses, comparing the acquisition of responding to a continuously reinforced stimulus (CRf) and a partially reinforced stimulus (PRf), provided further evidence in support of the difference term. In conclusion, the results are consistent with conventional models that describe learning as the growth of associative strength, incremented on each trial by an error-correction process.
An attention modulated associative network.
12 October 2011
University of Sydney

Harris, Justin A;Livesey, Evan J

We present an elemental model of associative learning that describes interactions between stimulus elements as a process of competitive normalization. Building on the assumptions laid out in Harris (2006), stimuli are represented as an array of elements that compete for attention according to the strength of their input. Elements form associations among each other according to temporal correlations in their activation but restricted by their connectivity. The model moves beyond its predecessor by specifying excitatory, inhibitory, and attention processes for each element in real time and describing their interaction as a form of suppressive gain control. Attention is formalized in this model as a network of mutually inhibitory units that moderate the activation of stimulus elements by controlling the level to which the elements are suppressed by their own inhibitory processes. The model is applied to a range of complex discriminations and related phenomena that have been taken as evidence for configural-learning processes.
Increasing the frequency of breakfast consumption
12 October 2011
University of Sydney

Kothe, Emily Jane;Mullan, Barbara A

Purpose – A number of interventions aimed at increasing breakfast consumption have been designed and implemented in recent years. This paper seeks to review the current research in this area with the aim of identifying common features of successful interventions and strengths and weaknesses in the current research methodology. Design/methodology/approach – A systematic review of interventions aimed at increasing breakfast-eating frequency in a non-clinical sample was conducted. Findings – A total of 11 interventions were identified and reviewed; of these, only three resulted in an increase in breakfast consumption at follow-up. The three studies that were successful in changing breakfast consumption all included a psychosocial component that was successful in increasing positive attitudes towards nutrition in the intervention protocol. Many of the breakfast-eating interventions included in this review have methodological weaknesses, including difficulties in implementing interventions, small sample sizes, and selection biases, which future researchers should consider when designing and evaluating their own interventions. Research limitations/implications – These findings highlight the importance of including psychosocial components in interventions designed to increase breakfast consumption, while also signalling issues that should be addressed when designing and reporting future interventions. Originality/value – This review was the first to investigate the efficacy of interventions aimed at increasing breakfast consumption. The identification of weaknesses in the current body of research, and of successful and unsuccessful intervention practices is an important step in developing successful interventions in the future.
Elemental Representations of Stimuli in Associative Learning
14 October 2011
University of Sydney

Harris, Justin A

This paper reviews evidence and theories concerning the nature of stimulus representations in Pavlovian conditioning. It focuses on the elemental approach developed in Stimulus Sampling Theory (Atkinson & Estes, 1963; Bush & Mosteller, 1951b) and extended by McLaren and Mackintosh (2000; 2002), and contrasts this with models that that invoke notions of configural representations that uniquely code for different patterns of stimulus inputs (e.g., Pearce, 1987, 1994; Rescorla & Wagner, 1972; Wagner & Brandon, 2001). The paper then presents a new elemental model that emphasizes interactions between stimulus elements. This model is shown to explain a range of behavioral findings, including those (e.g., negative patterning and biconditional discriminations) traditionally thought beyond the explanatory capabilities of elemental models. Moreover, the model offers a ready explanation for recent findings reported by Rescorla (2000; 2001; 2002b) concerning the way that stimuli with different conditioning histories acquire associative strength when conditioned in compound
Summation of reinforcement rates when conditioned stimuli are presented in compound
20 October 2011
University of Sydney

Andrew, Benjamin J;Harris, Justin A

Three experiments used delay conditioning of magazine approach in rats to examine the summation of responding when two conditioned stimuli (CSs) are presented together as a compound. The duration of each CS varied randomly from trial-to-trial around a mean that differed between the CSs. This meant that the rats’ response rate to each CS was systematically related to the reinforcement rate of that CS, but remained steady as time elapsed during the CS (Harris & Carpenter, in press; Harris, Gharaei, & Pincham, in press). When the rats were presented with a compound of two CSs that had been conditioned separately, they responded more during the compound than during either of the CSs individually. More significantly, however, in all three experiments, the rats responded to the compound at the same rate as they responded to a third CS that had been reinforced at a rate equal to the sum of the reinforcement rates of the two CSs in compound. We discuss the implications of this finding for associative models (e.g., Rescorla & Wagner, 1972) and rate-based models (Gallistel & Gibbon, 2000) of conditioning.
Response Rate and Reinforcement Rate in Pavlovian Conditioning
20 October 2011
University of Sydney

Harris, Justin A

Four experiments used delay conditioning of magazine approach in rats to investigate the relationship between the rate of responding, R, to a conditioned stimulus (CS) and the rate, r, at which the CS is reinforced with the unconditioned stimulus (US). Rats were concurrently trained with four variable-duration CSs with different rs, either as a result of differences in the mean CS-US interval or in the proportion of CS presentations that ended with the US. In each case, R was systematically related to r, and the relationship was very accurately characterized by a hyperbolic function, R = Ar/(r+c). Accordingly, the reciprocal of these two variables – response interval, I (=1/R), and CS-US interval, i (=1/r) – were related by a simple affine (straight line) transformation, I = mi+b. This latter relationship shows that each increment in the time that the rats had to wait for food produced a linear increment in the time they waited between magazine entries. We discuss the close agreement between our findings and the Matching Law (Herrnstein, 1970), and consider their implications for both associative theories (e.g., Rescorla & Wagner, 1972) and non-associative theories (Gallistel & Gibbon, 2000) of conditioning.
Comparing learned predictiveness effects within and across compound discriminations
21 October 2011
University of Sydney

Livesey, Evan J;Thorwart, Anna;De Fina, Nicole L;Harris, Justin A

In four human learning experiments, we examined the extent to which learned predictiveness depends upon direct comparison between relatively good and poor predictors. Participants initially solved (1) linear compound discriminations in which one or both of the stimuli in each compound were predictive of the correct outcome, (2) biconditional discriminations where only the configurations of the stimuli were predictive of the correct outcome, or (3) pseudo-discriminations in which no stimulus features were predictive. In each experiment, subsequent learning and test stages were used to assay changes in the associability of each stimulus brought about by its role in the initial discriminations. Although learned predictiveness effects were observed in all experiments (i.e. previously predictive cues were more readily associated with a new outcome than previously non-predictive cues), the same changes in associability were observed regardless of whether the stimulus was initially learned about in the presence of an equally predictive, more predictive, or less predictive stimulus. The results suggest that learned associability is not controlled by competitive allocation of attention, but rather by the absolute predictiveness of each individual cue.
Tracking a single fast-moving object exhausts attentional resources
31 October 2011
University of Sydney

Holcombe, Alex;Chen, Wei-Ying

Driving on a busy road, eluding a group of predators, or playing a team sport involves keeping track of multiple moving objects. In typical laboratory tasks, the number of visual targets that humans can track is about four. Three types of theories have been advanced to explain this limit. The fixed-limit theory posits a set number of attentional pointers available to follow objects. Spatial interference theory proposes that when targets are near each other, their attentional spotlights mutually interfere. Resource theory asserts that a limited resource is divided among targets, and performance reflects the amount available per target. Utilising widely separated objects to avoid spatial interference, the present experiments validated the predictions of resource theory. The fastest target speed at which two targets could be tracked was much slower than the fastest speed at which one target could be tracked. This speed limit for tracking two targets was approximately that predicted if at high speeds, only a single target could be tracked. This result cannot be accommodated by the fixed-limit or interference theories. Evidently a fast target, if it moves fast enough, can exhaust attentional resources.
Attentional Changes During Implicit Learning: Signal Validity Protects a Target Stimulus from the Attentional Blink
31 October 2011
University of Sydney

Livesey, Evan J;Harris, Irina M;Harris, Justin A

Participants in two experiments performed two simultaneous tasks: one, a dual-target detection task within a rapid sequence of target and distractor letters; the other, a cued reaction time task requiring participants to make a cued left/right response immediately after each letter sequence. Under these rapid visual presentation conditions, it is usually difficult to identify the second target when it is presented in close temporal proximity of the first target, a phenomenon known as the attentional blink. However, here, participants showed an advantage for detecting a target presented during the attentional blink if that target predicted which response cue would appear at the end of the trial. Participants also showed faster reaction times on trials with a predictive target. Both of these effects were independent of conscious knowledge of the target-response contingencies assessed by post-experiment questionnaires. The results suggest that implicit learning of the association between a predictive target and its outcome can automatically facilitate target recognition during the attentional blink, and therefore shed new light on the relationship between associative learning and attentional mechanisms.
Baroque Optics and the Disappearance of the Observer: From Kepler’s Optics to Descartes’ Doubt
07 November 2011
University of Sydney

Gal, Ofer;Chen-Morris, Raz

In the seventeenth century the human observer gradually disappeared from optical treatises. It was a paradoxical process: the naturalization of the eye estranged the mind from its objects. Turned into a material optical instrument, the eye no longer furnished the observer with genuine representations of visible objects. It became a mere screen, on which rested a blurry array of light stains, accidental effects of a purely causal process. It thus befell the intellect to decipher one natural object—a flat image of no inherent epistemic value—as the vague, reversed reflection of another, wholly independent object. In reflecting on and trespassing the boundaries between natural and artificial, orderly and disorderly, this optical paradox was a Baroque intellectual phenomenon; and it was the origin of Descartes’ celebrated doubt— whether we know anything at all.
The 'absolute existence' of phlogiston: the losing party's point of view.
07 November 2011
University of Sydney

Gal, Ofer;Boantza, Victor

Long after its alleged demise, phlogiston was still presented, discussed and defended by leading chemists. Even some of the leading proponents of the new chemistry admitted its ‘absolute existence’. We demonstrate that what was defended under the title ‘phlogiston’ was no longer a particular hypothesis about combustion and respiration. Rather, it was a set of ontological and epistemological assumptions and the empirical practices associated with them. Lavoisier’s gravimetric reduction, in the eyes of the phlogistians, annihilated the autonomy of chemistry together with its peculiar concepts of chemical substance and quality, chemical process and chemical affinity. The defence of phlogiston was the defence of a distinctly chemical conception of matter and its appearances, a conception which rejected the chemist’s acquaintance with details and particularities of substances, properties and processes and his skills of adducing causal relations from the interplay between their complexity and uniformity.
Constructivism for Philosophers (Be it a Remark on Realism)
07 November 2011
University of Sydney

Gal, Ofer

Bereft of the illusion of an epistemic vantage point external to science, what should be our commitment towards the categories, concepts and terms of that very science? Should we, despaired of the possibility to found these concepts on rock bottom, adopt empiricist skepticism? Or perhaps the inexistence of external foundations implies, rather, immunity for scientific ontology from epistemological criticism? Philosophy’s “realism debate” died out without providing a satisfactory answer to the dilemma, which was taken over by the neighboring disciplines. The “symmetry principle” of the “Strong Programme” for the sociology of science-the requirement that truth and error receive the same kind of causal explanations-offered one bold metaphysical answer, under the guise of a methodological decree. Recently, however, it has been argued that this solution is not bold enough, that the social constructivists replaced the naïve presumption of an independent nature which adjudicates our beliefs with a mirror-image presumption of a sui generis society which furnishes these beliefs autonomously. The proper metaphysics for a foundationless epistemology,argues Bruno Latour, is one which grants nature and society, object and subject, equal roles in the success and failure of science and technology; one in which history of society merges with a history of things-in-themselves. The paper analyzes the philosophical and methodological motivations and ramifications of this extraordinary suggestion.
Journal of Digital Research & Publishing 2008
16 February 2012
University of Sydney

nan

The Journal of Digital Communication and Culture is a publication created by students of ARIN6912 Digital Research and Publishing. This unit of study is part of the Master of Digital Communication and Culture taught by the Digital Cultures Program in the School of Letters, Art, and Media. For more information contact Chris Chesher (chris.chesher@sydney.edu.au). CONTENTS (TITLE/AUTHOR): Sourcing the Freedom: Free Software vs. Open Source Software (Nicole-Kate Anderson) // Be the Media (Yue Hu) // Bloggers as Gatekeepers: Issues of Gatewatching in Journalism (Janine Corbin) // Social Capital and ICTs (Daniel Kille) // The New Media (Chufan Han) // ‘Doing’ the Online Identity (Rebecca Cornell) // Social interaction in virtual environments (Samuray Ozay) // Plug Me In: Connecting With the Net Generation (Katie Pittard) // Netspeak: An Earthquake in the Language World (Jiang Ning) //The iPod and iCulture (Zhou Yuan) // China Digital Times: the Appearance of DTV (Yin Guan) // Information Revelation and Privacy in Virtual Social Networks: Our Willingness to Divulge Personal Information (Madeleine Wood) // English-language Magazines in China (Wenjing Wille Wu) // Online expression repressed (Rhonda Prsntice) // Multivariant Narratives in World of Warcraft (Adam W Ruch) // Instant Messaging (Suneesh T. Mathews)
Journal of Digital Research & Publishing Semester 1 2010 (1pm class)
16 February 2012
University of Sydney

nan

The Journal of Digital Communication and Culture is a publication created by students of ARIN6912 Digital Research and Publishing. This unit of study is part of the Master of Digital Communication and Culture taught by the Digital Cultures Program in the School of Letters, Art, and Media. For more information contact Chris Chesher (chris.chesher@sydney.edu.au). CONTENTS (TITLE/AUTHOR): Refolding the fold: the complete representation of actuality in digital culture (Sonia Therese Chan) // Mind over media? A philosophical view on user-generated media and social identity (Romina Cavagnola) // Outsiders looking in: How everyday bloggers are gaining access to the elite fashion world (Tiana Stefanic) // New media revolution: personal ads expand to the Internet (David James Misner) // Online publishing: (Anime) Fan fiction and identity (Nicola Santilli) // The practicality of magazine websites (Emma Turner) // A Cultural Historical Approach to Virtual Networking (Kate Fagan) // How social media is changing public relation practices (Katharina Otulak) // The 3D evolution after AVATAR: Welcome to 3D at homes (Jaeun Yun) // The interaction between technology, people and society —In the case of Happy Farm (Chen Chen) // Technical solutions to business challenges: the Content Management System of today (Bujuanes Livermore) // Hidden Consumerism: ‘Advergames’ and preschool children. Parents give the thumbs up? (Kathryn Lewis) // Google’s library of Alexandria: The allure and dangers of online texts (Leila Chacko) // Google’s Taking on China:an Ingenious Publicity Campaign (Junying Cui) // Redifining Glamour: Capturing Queer Subculture on TheNightBloomers.com (Ron O’Berst) // Patient Advocates in the Internet Age: a threat to traditional notions of authority in health care? (Allison Jones) // Fashion Blogs: the new menber in fashion industry (Chi Zhang) // Twitter Wave Will Drown The World? (Jie He) // The influence of cultural differences on electronic commerce (Yuan Shen).
Journal of Digital Research & Publishing Semester 1 2011 (1pm class)
16 February 2012
University of Sydney

nan

The Journal of Digital Communication and Culture is a publication created by students of ARIN6912 Digital Research and Publishing. This unit of study is part of the Master of Digital Communication and Culture taught by the Digital Cultures Program in the School of Letters, Art, and Media. For more information contact Chris Chesher (chris.chesher@sydney.edu.au). CONTENTS (TITLE/AUTHOR): An Analysis of Online Discussion Impacts on Adult Students’ Learning (Tao Wang) // Are We Living in the Same World? Social media platforms in Australia and China compared (Kai Tang) // Choose Your Own World: The convergence of hypertext, literature and gaming (John Band) // Digital Evolution: The changing face of video game journalism (Nicholas Barkl) // Facebook Features and MySpace Memoirs: Does user behaviour within social networking sites qualify as a form of digital publishing? (Nadia Junaideen) // I, Consumer, Produser: The rise of collaborative content creation and its impact on producer/user relationships (Olivia Porter) // Indigenous Storytelling and the Digitised Future (Alexandra Hirst) // Online Campaigning: Web 2.0 and the Australian federal election (Keyang Yang) // Online News Content: How reading news online affects users’ understanding of news events (Kelly Stock) // Teens, Consumerism, and Converse: How lifestyle and identity are portrayed through digital publishing (Priska Febrinia Handojo) // The Impact of Technological Advancements upon Language and Communication in an Increasingly Digitised Society (Pippa Lyons)
Journal of Digital Research & Publishing Semester 1 2009 (5pm class)
17 February 2012
University of Sydney

nan

The Journal of Digital Communication and Culture is a publication created by students of ARIN6912 Digital Research and Publishing. This unit of study is part of the Master of Digital Communication and Culture taught by the Digital Cultures Program in the School of Letters, Art, and Media. For more information contact Chris Chesher (chris.chesher@sydney.edu.au). CONTENTS (TITLE/AUTHOR): Automated Content Authorship: The ‘Real’ Death of the Author (Rochelle Deighton) // Facebook ‘Friends’: The Validity of Online Friendships (Kate Bateman) // Misconceived End-User Expectations to Privacy on Facebook (Ailin Bezzo) // To tweet or not to tweet Grunig’s model to brand engagement (Louise Veyret) // Gmail: Friend or Foe? (Angela Wade) // The Construct of Digital Identity: A Case Study of Self Portraits and Profile Pictures as Simulacra on Web Platforms (Tom Okagami) // Ease of Access: Suicide and Prevention (Kerilynn Petersen) // Amazon’s Impending Monopoly of E-book Markets (Ouchen Wei) // Picking Up the Pages: Discussing the Materiality of Magazines (Joy Enriquez) // Digital Footprints: a case study (Michael Schanzer) // Virtual work spaces: The changing face of communication (Gina Spithakis) // Keeping it Simple: The Shift in Video Game Development (Kimberley Lau) // Lurkers and Lolcats: An Easy Way From Out To In (Claudia Leigh)
Journal of Digital Research & Publishing Semester 1 2009 (7pm class)
17 February 2012
University of Sydney

nan

The Journal of Digital Communication and Culture is a publication created by students of ARIN6912 Digital Research and Publishing. This unit of study is part of the Master of Digital Communication and Culture taught by the Digital Cultures Program in the School of Letters, Art, and Media. For more information contact Chris Chesher (chris.chesher@sydney.edu.au). CONTENTS (TITLE/AUTHOR): Just zeroes and ones’: Nine Inch Nails and the move to online music publishing (Anon) // The evolution of Public Relations in the rhetorical public sphere of Web 2.0 Case study: Edelman PR representing Wal-Mart (Anita Sulentic) // Google Book Search: Digitisation of books as a positive invention (Remi Otani) // The Digital Business Ecosys¬tem and the Corporate Wiki: toward knowledge creation and innovation (Beth Powell) // Web 2.0 Activism and the battle for online space (Harry Mills) // The World Wide Web and the demise of quality journalism (Kyle Anderson)
Journal of Digital Research & Publishing Semester 1 2009 (1pm class)
17 February 2012
University of Sydney

nan

The Journal of Digital Communication and Culture is a publication created by students of ARIN6912 Digital Research and Publishing. This unit of study is part of the Master of Digital Communication and Culture taught by the Digital Cultures Program in the School of Letters, Art, and Media. For more information contact Chris Chesher (chris.chesher@sydney.edu.au). CONTENTS (TITLE/AUTHOR): Down the rabbit hole: literature’s adventures in e-readerland (Kathryn Knight) // Ditching the dead-tree medium (Heidi Cassell) // PEACE OR WAR? Design metaphors behind e-book readers (Gao Qun) // ‘THIS IS THE INTERNET SPEAKING’ Wikipedia, Hwang Woo-Suk, Norms, and the Social Construction of Scientific Knowledge (Katherine Calhau) // Beyond bias: Wikipedia and the construction of knowledge (Michelle Tran) // University publishing 2.0: a preliminary investigation (Agata Marczewska) // The public gain equal rights by Indymedia: depending on the technical application of Indymedia (Jing Cao) // The movement from traditional journalism to citizen journalism A case study of online newspaper website OhmyNews (Jialing Su) // The Comparison of Emergency Coverage between America and China (Wenjuan Shi) // A content analysis of the posts on Twitter and Xiaonei (Yu Cheng) // How Facebook and other social networks are changing information production and circulation (Emel Gusic) // Facebook, Privacy and Criminality (Wenbo Chen) // Podcast: Useful tool to facilitate learning behaviour in higher education (XiaoLi Pei)
Journal of Digital Research & Publishing Semester 1 2010 (5pm class)
17 February 2012
University of Sydney

nan

The Journal of Digital Communication and Culture is a publication created by students of ARIN6912 Digital Research and Publishing. This unit of study is part of the Master of Digital Communication and Culture taught by the Digital Cultures Program in the School of Letters, Art, and Media. For more information contact Chris Chesher (chris.chesher@sydney.edu.au). CONTENTS (TITLE/AUTHOR): Can’t Stop the Signal: How publishing companies are taking advantage of existing readerships online (Vanessa Williams) // An Improved Digital Divide: How Chile’s political efforts have positively affected the educational divide (Paula Comandari Andueza) // E-publishing: a dictator, or a co-operator? (Huan Zhang) // iPad Invades the E-reader Market (Jianwei Zhang) // E-books and the Ownership Myth: The Limitations of Digital Rights Management on Consumers (Elizabeth Riley) // Online publishing: extensions and challenges of traditional journalism (Luqi Lin) // Online journals emerge: the audiences’ choice (Ge Xuan) // The New Journalism: Weblogs as News Sources (Hanne Kristine Fjellheim) // Why online news could influence printed newspapers (Tao Zhai) // Online and Offline Newspapers Readerships and Features (Wanxin Mei) // Online Journalism: Recycled News or Innovative Reporting (Suzi Heaton) // Magazine Publishers Go Digital (Anastasiya Kostolyndina) // Fashioning Magazines in the Digital Realm (Yeong Sassall) // Pirates or Criminals? (Martina Marsic) // Legal P2P File Sharing is Possible: A Case Study of ‘Spotify’ (XIA JU) // A new cinematic aesthetic: The effect of the digital revolution on the construction of the ‘real’ (Eliza Hansell) // Virtual Wealth: A New Kind of Property in China (Hanbing Song) // Generation Me or Generation We? Social Media Technologies, Narcissism and Online Interaction (Ola Bednarczuk)
Journal of Digital Research & Publishing Semester 1 2010 (7pm class)
17 February 2012
University of Sydney

nan

The Journal of Digital Communication and Culture is a publication created by students of ARIN6912 Digital Research and Publishing. This unit of study is part of the Master of Digital Communication and Culture taught by the Digital Cultures Program in the School of Letters, Art, and Media. For more information contact Chris Chesher (chris.chesher@sydney.edu.au). CONTENTS (TITLE/AUTHOR): Lost online: TV series as multi-author, multi-platform metafictions (César Albarrán Torres) // Join the Group: Facebook (Marta Conejo Sobrino) // Is Twitter making news more interpersonal? (Ella Pong) // Love or Lies: Deception in internet dating (Bridget Slater) // To be or not to be: T.Sina in China (Jin Xing) // Cyberbullying and the “Net Generation” (Annie Chiv) // The rise of social media and the creation of a new digital divide (Allen Liu) // Building the Wheel: Popular Education in the Digital Era (Dan O’Reilly-Rowe) // Publishers Attempt To Reconnect With Readers (Kim Kooren) // Blooks: A New Era of Literature? (Amanda Lansdowne) // The ‘Death of the Author’ and the birth of the reader? (Tamsin Lloyd) // Crisis Communications and New Media (Tom Champion) // The Influence of Online Reviews (Amy Fong) // I Blog. You Buy. (Miren Mendoza) // ‘Will 2020 still be a Great Year to be a Fashion Blogger?’ (Kate Pagett) // The Necessity for Social Media Plans in Business Strategies (Alicia Fong Yee Shum)
Journal of Digital Research & Publishing Semester 1 2011 (5pm class)
17 February 2012
University of Sydney

nan

The Journal of Digital Communication and Culture is a publication created by students of ARIN6912 Digital Research and Publishing. This unit of study is part of the Master of Digital Communication and Culture taught by the Digital Cultures Program in the School of Letters, Art, and Media. For more information contact Chris Chesher (chris.chesher@sydney.edu.au). CONTENTS (TITLE/AUTHOR):Digital Publishing: what we gain and what we lose (Shutong Wang) // Making Online Pay: the prospect of the paywall in a digital and networked economy (Yi Wang) // E-mail Spam: advantages and impacts in digital publishing (Haoyu Qian) // Advertising in the new media age (Quan Quan Chen) // Twitter Theatre: notes on theatre texts and social media platforms (Alejandra Montemayor Loyo) // The appearance and impacts of electronic magazines from the perspective of media production and consumption (Ting Xu) // Pirates Versus Ninjas: the implications of hacker culture for eBook publishing (Shannon Glass) // Online Library and Copyright Protection (Yang Guo) // Identities Collide: blogging blurs boundaries (Jessica Graham) // How to Use Sina Microblog for Brand Marketing (Jingjing Yu) // Inheriting the First Amendment: a comparative framing analysis of the opposition to online content regulation (Sebastian Dixon) // The Impact of Convergence Culture on News Publishing: the rise of the Blogger (Renae Englert) // The New Design of Digital Contents for Government Applications: new generations of citizens and smart phones applications (Lorena Hevia) // Solving the Digital Divide: how the National Broadband Network will impact inequality of online access in Australia (Michael Roberts) // The Blurring of Roles: journalists and citizens in the new media landscape (Nikki Bradley) // Wikileaks and its Spinoffs: new models of journalism or the new media gatekeepers? (Nadeemy Chen)
Journal of Digital Research & Publishing Semester 2 2011 (1pm class)
17 February 2012
University of Sydney

nan

The Journal of Digital Communication and Culture is a publication created by students of ARIN6912 Digital Research and Publishing. This unit of study is part of the Master of Digital Communication and Culture taught by the Digital Cultures Program in the School of Letters, Art, and Media. For more information contact Chris Chesher (chris.chesher@sydney.edu.au). CONTENTS (TITLE/AUTHOR): Open Access Journals for School Teachers in Indonesia (Laila Alfizanna) // Virtual Worlds, Real Money: The Economic, Legal and Social Dimensions of Virtual Property (Alexander Apte) // Keep Calm and Google It: How digital technology changes how we work with knowledge (Henrietta Ashton) // Twitter Usage in Times of Crisis (Stephanie Brown) // The Impact of Bookscan on the Australian Publishing Industry (Guo Chen) // Battle of the Bands (Sikhanyiso Dlamini) // The Impact of China’s Microblog and Chinese Government’s Censorship (Layla Dong) // Is Wikipedia Making Traditional Reference Books Shrinking? (Yanxi Fan) // Research in the Digital Age: Our Use of Twitter (Patrick Hsiao) // Hypertext and Literature (Li Xiaoxi) // Social Media in China: Past, Present and Future (Jingqi Liu) // Expanding electronic magazines in China (Liu Ying) // Txt Tlk: Language in the Digital World (Renelle Mower) // Journalism Practices in Remix Culture: How New Media Affects the Producction and Distribution of News (Diana Marcela Roldan) // Is the picture book dead? The rise of the iPad as a turning point in children’s literature (Lisa Margarete Schons) // The Rise of User-Generated Content and its Potential Threats (Ut Ieng Tang) // The Preservation of Cultural Heritage in Digital Publishing Context (Xi Wang)
Journal of Digital Research & Publishing Semester 2 2011 (5pm class)
17 February 2012
University of Sydney

nan

The Journal of Digital Communication and Culture is a publication created by students of ARIN6912 Digital Research and Publishing. This unit of study is part of the Master of Digital Communication and Culture taught by the Digital Cultures Program in the School of Letters, Art, and Media. For more information contact Chris Chesher (chris.chesher@sydney.edu.au). CONTENTS (TITLE/AUTHOR): Spreading the message: How social networks and paywalls can save Publishers (Brett McKeehan) // Are social network websites breeding antisocial young people? (Alanna Bromley) // Content curators: The DJs of the web (Claudine Pache) // Connecting with a click: Using social media as a new marketing strategy (Xingya Zhou) // Hesitations and difficulties in setting up a corporate wiki (Marie Louisa Althans) // Born to be wired: The advantages and disadvantages for Australian children growing up in a digital age (Amanda Nicholls) // Every tool is a weapon if you hold it right* (Cobie Dellicastelli) // Will newspapers survive in the digital age? (Kokkai Ng) // Is microblog changing the way we read news? (Mina Yizhen Wang) // Journalism 2.0: The business of news (Paul Giannakis) // Death to the watchdog? The Fourth Estate in a 2.0 world (Natasha Parsons) // Old news? Are new technologies causing news reporting to change track or simply speed up existing trends? (Suzanne Stebbings) // Internet @Censorship.com (Dan Lin) // Why is“Human flesh search” only popular in China? (Jingsi Wei) // Digital library: A long way to go (Hui Zheng) // From parlours to pixels: How the digital revolution is changing the way we read (Angela Shetler) // Poetry and the digital age: Friends or foes? (Stephanie Littlewood) // Has the e-book caused the death of the printed book? (Xiaoxiao Hua) // DNA match identification of copyright works system (Shen Chao) // What do you love? The optimisation of personalised searches (Monica Moruzzi)
How can UNICEF Australia strenghten the use of images in fundraising and media campaigns to advance children's rights?
30 March 2012
University of Sydney

King, Lauren

This paper seeks to understand the key considerations for NGO's in using images effectively in fundraising and media campaigns

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