Non-invasive assessment of tear film surface quality

The tear film plays an important role preserving the health of the ocular surface and maintaining the optimal refractive power of the cornea. Moreover dry eye syndrome is one of the most commonly reported eye health problems. This syndrome is caused by abnormalities in the properties of the tear film. Current clinical tools to assess the tear film properties have shown certain limitations. The traditional invasive methods for the assessment of tear film quality, which are used by most clinicians, have been criticized for the lack of reliability and/or repeatability. A range of non-invasive methods of tear assessment have been investigated, but also present limitations. Hence no “gold standard” test is currently available to assess the tear film integrity. Therefore, improving techniques for the assessment of the tear film quality is of clinical significance and the main motivation for the work described in this thesis. In this study the tear film surface quality (TFSQ) changes were investigated by means of high-speed videokeratoscopy (HSV). In this technique, a set of concentric rings formed in an illuminated cone or a bowl is projected on the anterior cornea and their reflection from the ocular surface imaged on a charge-coupled device (CCD). The reflection of the light is produced in the outer most layer of the cornea, the tear film. Hence, when the tear film is smooth the reflected image presents a well structure pattern. In contrast, when the tear film surface presents irregularities, the pattern also becomes irregular due to the light scatter and deviation of the reflected light. The videokeratoscope provides an estimate of the corneal topography associated with each Placido disk image. Topographical estimates, which have been used in the past to quantify tear film changes, may not always be suitable for the evaluation of all the dynamic phases of the tear film. However the Placido disk image itself, which contains the reflected pattern, may be more appropriate to assess the tear film dynamics. A set of novel routines have been purposely developed to quantify the changes of the reflected pattern and to extract a time series estimate of the TFSQ from the video recording. The routine extracts from each frame of the video recording a maximized area of analysis. In this area a metric of the TFSQ is calculated. Initially two metrics based on the Gabor filter and Gaussian gradient-based techniques, were used to quantify the consistency of the pattern’s local orientation as a metric of TFSQ. These metrics have helped to demonstrate the applicability of HSV to assess the tear film, and the influence of contact lens wear on TFSQ. The results suggest that the dynamic-area analysis method of HSV was able to distinguish and quantify the subtle, but systematic degradation of tear film surface quality in the inter-blink interval in contact lens wear. It was also able to clearly show a difference between bare eye and contact lens wearing conditions. Thus, the HSV method appears to be a useful technique for quantitatively investigating the effects of contact lens wear on the TFSQ. Subsequently a larger clinical study was conducted to perform a comparison between HSV and two other non-invasive techniques, lateral shearing interferometry (LSI) and dynamic wavefront sensing (DWS). Of these non-invasive techniques, the HSV appeared to be the most precise method for measuring TFSQ, by virtue of its lower coefficient of variation. While the LSI appears to be the most sensitive method for analyzing the tear build-up time (TBUT). The capability of each of the non-invasive methods to discriminate dry eye from normal subjects was also investigated. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated to assess the ability of each method to predict dry eye syndrome. The LSI technique gave the best results under both natural blinking conditions and in suppressed blinking conditions, which was closely followed by HSV. The DWS did not perform as well as LSI or HSV. The main limitation of the HSV technique, which was identified during the former clinical study, was the lack of the sensitivity to quantify the build-up/formation phase of the tear film cycle. For that reason an extra metric based on image transformation and block processing was proposed. In this metric, the area of analysis was transformed from Cartesian to Polar coordinates, converting the concentric circles pattern into a quasi-straight lines image in which a block statistics value was extracted. This metric has shown better sensitivity under low pattern disturbance as well as has improved the performance of the ROC curves. Additionally a theoretical study, based on ray-tracing techniques and topographical models of the tear film, was proposed to fully comprehend the HSV measurement and the instrument’s potential limitations. Of special interested was the assessment of the instrument’s sensitivity under subtle topographic changes. The theoretical simulations have helped to provide some understanding on the tear film dynamics, for instance the model extracted for the build-up phase has helped to provide some insight into the dynamics during this initial phase. Finally some aspects of the mathematical modeling of TFSQ time series have been reported in this thesis. Over the years, different functions have been used to model the time series as well as to extract the key clinical parameters (i.e., timing). Unfortunately those techniques to model the tear film time series do not simultaneously consider the underlying physiological mechanism and the parameter extraction methods. A set of guidelines are proposed to meet both criteria. Special attention was given to a commonly used fit, the polynomial function, and considerations to select the appropriate model order to ensure the true derivative of the signal is accurately represented. The work described in this thesis has shown the potential of using high-speed videokeratoscopy to assess tear film surface quality. A set of novel image and signal processing techniques have been proposed to quantify different aspects of the tear film assessment, analysis and modeling. The dynamic-area HSV has shown good performance in a broad range of conditions (i.e., contact lens, normal and dry eye subjects). As a result, this technique could be a useful clinical tool to assess tear film surface quality in the future.

Indigenous Australians and Islam : spiritual, cultural, and political alliances

This thesis examines why and how Indigenous Australians convert to Islam in the New South Wales suburbs of Redfern and Lakemba. It is argued that conventional religious conversion theories inadequately account for religious change in the circumstances outlined in this study. The aim of the thesis is to apply a sociological-historical methodology to document and analyse both Indigenous and Islamic pathways eventuating in Indigenous Islamic alliances. All of the Indigenous men interviewed for this research have had contact with Islam either while incarcerated or involved with the criminal justice system. The consequences of these alliances for the Indigenous men constitute the contribution the study makes to new knowledge. The study employs a socio-historical and sociological focus to account for the underlying issues by a literature review followed by an ethnographic participant observation methodology. In-depth open-ended interviews with key informants provided the rich qualitative data to compliment literature review findings. For the Indigenous people involved in this study, Islamic religious identity combined with resistance politics formed a significant empowering framework. For them it is a symbolic representation of anti-colonialism and the enduring scourge of social dysfunction in some Indigenous communities.

Evolutionary biology of Gondwanan non-biting midges (Diptera: Chironomidae)

The potential restriction to effective dispersal and gene flow caused by habitat fragmentation can apply to multiple levels of evolutionary scale; from the fragmentation of ancient supercontinents driving diversification and speciation on disjunct landmasses, to the isolation of proximate populations as a result of their inability to cross intervening unsuitable habitat. Investigating the role of habitat fragmentation in driving diversity within and among taxa can thus include inferences of phylogenetic relationships among taxa, assessments of intraspecific phylogeographic structure and analyses of gene flow among neighbouring populations. The proposed Gondwanan clade within the chironomid (non-biting midge) subfamily Orthocladiinae (Diptera: Chironomidae) represents a model system for investigating the role that population fragmentation and isolation has played at different evolutionary scales. A pilot study by Krosch et al (2009) indentified several highly divergent lineages restricted to ancient rainforest refugia and limited gene flow among proximate sites within a refuge for one member of this clade, Echinocladius martini Cranston. This study provided a framework for investigating the evolutionary history of this taxon and its relatives more thoroughly. Populations of E. martini were sampled in the Paluma bioregion of northeast Queensland to investigate patterns of fine-scale within- and among-stream dispersal and gene flow within a refuge more rigorously. Data was incorporated from Krosch et al (2009) and additional sites were sampled up- and downstream of the original sites. Analyses of genetic structure revealed strong natal site fidelity and high genetic structure among geographically proximate streams. Little evidence was found for regular headwater exchange among upstream sites, but there was distinct evidence for rare adult flight among sites on separate stream reaches. Overall, however, the distribution of shared haplotypes implied that both larval and adult dispersal was largely limited to the natal stream channel. Patterns of regional phylogeographic structure were examined in two related austral orthoclad taxa – Naonella forsythi Boothroyd from New Zealand and Ferringtonia patagonica Sæther and Andersen from southern South America – to provide a comparison with patterns revealed in their close relative E. martini. Both taxa inhabit tectonically active areas of the southern hemisphere that have also experienced several glaciation events throughout the Plio-Pleistocene that are thought to have affected population structure dramatically in many taxa. Four highly divergent lineages estimated to have diverged since the late Miocene were revealed in each taxon, mirroring patterns in E. martini; however, there was no evidence for local geographical endemism, implying substantial range expansion post-diversification. The differences in pattern evident among the three related taxa were suggested to have been influenced by variation in the responses of closed forest habitat to climatic fluctuations during interglacial periods across the three landmasses. Phylogeographic structure in E. martini was resolved at a continental scale by expanding upon the sampling design of Krosch et al (2009) to encompass populations in southeast Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Patterns of phylogeographic structure were consistent with expectations and several previously unrecognised lineages were revealed from central- and southern Australia that were geographically endemic to closed forest refugia. Estimated divergence times were congruent with the timing of Plio-Pleistocene rainforest contractions across the east coast of Australia. This suggested that dispersal and gene flow of E. martini among isolated refugia was highly restricted and that this taxon was susceptible to the impacts of habitat change. Broader phylogenetic relationships among taxa considered to be members of this Gondwanan orthoclad group were resolved in order to test expected patterns of evolutionary affinities across the austral continents. The inferred phylogeny and estimated divergence times did not accord with expected patterns based on the geological sequence of break-up of the Gondwanan supercontinent and implied instead several transoceanic dispersal events post-vicariance. Difficulties in appropriate taxonomic sampling and accurate calibration of molecular phylogenies notwithstanding, the sampling regime implemented in the current study has been the most intensive yet performed for austral members of the Orthocladiinae and unsurprisingly has revealed both novel taxa and phylogenetic relationships within and among described genera. Several novel associations between life stages are made here for both described and previously unknown taxa. Investigating evolutionary relationships within and among members of this clade of proposed Gondwanan orthoclad taxa has demonstrated that a complex interaction between historical population fragmentation and dispersal at several levels of evolutionary scale has been important in driving diversification in this group. While interruptions to migration, colonisation and gene flow driven by population fragmentation have clearly contributed to the development and maintenance of much of the diversity present in this group, long-distance dispersal has also played a role in influencing diversification of continental biotas and facilitating gene flow among disjunct populations.

English language study abroad program : an investigation of Hong Kong pre-service teachers’ experiences of a language immersion program

There has been minimal research focused on short-term study abroad language immersion programs, in particular, with home-stay families. The importance of authentic intercultural experience is increasingly clear and was acknowledged as central to the process of language learning (Liddicoat, 2004). In Hong Kong, education programs for pre-service language teachers have significantly emphasised language and intercultural training through short-term study abroad, and these short overseas language immersion courses have become a compulsory component for teacher training (Bodycott & Crew, 2001) in the last decade. This study aims to investigate eight Hong Kong pre-service teachers’ and their home-stay families’ experiences of a short-term (two months) language immersion program in Australia. The focus is on listening to commentaries concerning the development of communicative competence, intercultural competence and professional growth during the out-of-class study abroad experience. The conceptual framework adopted in this study views language and intercultural learning from social constructivist perspectives. Central to this framing is the notion that the internalisation of higher mental functions involves the transfer from the inter-psychological to the intra-psychological plane, that is, a progression process from the socially supported to individually controlled performance. From this perspective, language serves as a way to communicate about, and in relation to, actions and experience. Three research questions were addressed and studied through qualitative methodology. 1. How do the pre-service teachers and their home-stay families perceive the out-of-class component of the program in terms of opportunities for the development of language proficiency and communicative competence? 2. How do the pre-service teachers and their home-stay families perceive the out-of-class component of the program in terms of the development of intercultural competence? 3. How do the pre-service teachers and home-stay families perceive the outof- class component of the program in terms of teachers’ professional growth? Data were generated from multiple data collection methods and analysed through thematic analysis from both a “bottom up” and “top down” approach. The study showed that the pre-service teachers perceived that the immersion program influenced, to varying degrees, their language proficiency, communication and intercultural awareness, as well as their self-awareness and professional growth. These pre-service teachers believed that effective language learning centres on active engagement in the target language community. A mismatch between the views and evaluations of the two groups – the pre-service teachers and the home-stay family members – provides some evidence of misalignments in terms of expectations and perceptions of each other’s roles and responsibilities. The study has highlighted challenges encountered, and provided suggestions for ways of meeting these challenges. The inclusion in the study of the home-stay families’ perceptions and commentaries provided insights, which can inform program development. There is clearly further work to be done in terms of predeparture orientation and preparation, not only for the main participants themselves, the students, but also for the host families.

Researching the 'reception' of indigenous affairs in Australia

The Reporting and Reception of Indigenous Issues in the Australian Media was a three year project financed by the Australian government through its Australian Research Council Large Grants Scheme and run by Professor John Hartley (of Murdoch and then Edith Cowan University, Western Australia). The purpose of the research was to map the ways in which indigeneity was constructed and circulated in Australia's mediasphere. The analysis of the 'reporting' element of the project was almost straightforward: a mixture of content analysis of a large number of items in the media, and detailed textual analysis of a smaller number of key texts. The discoveries were interesting - that when analysis approaches the media as a whole, rather than focussing exclusively on news or serious drama genres, then representation of indigeneity is not nearly as homogenous as has previously been assumed. And if researchers do not explicitly set out to uncover racism in every text, it is by no means guaranteed they will find it1. The question of how to approach the 'reception' of these issues - and particularly reception by indigenous Australians - proved to be a far more challenging one. In attempting to research this area, Hartley and I (working as a research assistant on the project) often found ourselves hampered by the axioms that underlie much media research. Traditionally, the 'reception' of media by indigenous people in Australia has been researched in ethnographic ways. This research repeatedly discovers that indigenous people in Australia are powerless in the face of new forms of media. Indigenous populations are represented as victims of aggressive and powerful intrusions: ‘What happens when a remote community is suddenly inundated by broadcast TV?’; ‘Overnight they will go from having no radio and television to being bombarded by three TV channels’; ‘The influence of film in an isolated, traditionally oriented Aboriginal community’2. This language of ‘influence’, ‘bombarded’, and ‘inundated’, presents metaphors not just of war but of a war being lost. It tells of an unequal struggle, of a more powerful force impinging upon a weaker one. What else could be the relationship of an Aboriginal audience to something which is ‘bombarding’ them? Or by which they are ‘inundated’? This attitude might best be summed up by the title of an article by Elihu Katz: ‘Can authentic cultures survive new media?’3. In such writing, there is little sense that what is being addressed might be seen as a series of discursive encounters, negotiations and acts of meaning-making in which indigenous people — communities and audiences —might be productive. Certainly, the points of concern in this type of writing are important. The question of what happens when a new communication medium is summarily introduced to a culture is certainly an important one. But the language used to describe this interaction is a misleading one. And it is noticeable that such writing is fascinated with the relationship of only traditionally-oriented Aboriginal communities to the media of mass communication.

Closing the gap between policy and 'Law' : Indigenous homelands and a working future

The Northern Territory Government's Working Future: Outstations/Homelands (2009) policy statement gives effect to the Council of Australian Government's Closing the Gap policy on Indigenous housing and remote service delivery. These policies mark a radical shift in public policy that winds back the outstations and homelands movement that began in the 1970's. This paper examines Indigenous homelands policy and considers whether these policies are consistent with the Indigenous human rights and in particular the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), which Australia endorsed in 2009. The author argues that the current homelands policy breaches a number of Indigenous human rights and promotes assimiliation by forcing Indigenous Australians to relocate to access basic services such as health, housing and education. As a consequence these policies are counter-intuitive to the overall Closing the Gap goals of improving Indigenous health outcomes because they fail to take into account the importance of country and culture to Indigenous wellbeing. She concludes that Australian governments need to formulate a homelands policy that is consistent with Indigenous human rights and in particular the right of self determination, enjoyment of culture and protection against forced assimilation.

Indigenous Voice : a work-integrated learning case study in journalism education

The continuing stereotypical coverage of Inigenous affairs in the Australian media suggests that journalists are still finding it difficult to come to terms with more effective ways ofm reporting such issues. The many hundreds of students who graduate from journalism programs across Australia represent an opportunity to at least challenge the predominant methods and strategies. But how prepared are journalism graduates for working with Indigenous issues? This paper explores the processas involved in an intensive reporting practices course held at the University of Queensland mid-2009. The course aimed to raise journalism student's awareness of some of the issues involved as well as enabling them to interact and work with personnel from the Brisbane Indigenous Media Community, 98.9 fm, the National Indigenous Radio Service, SBS and the ABC. The findings suggest that such structured programs have a significant impact on changing student's perceptions of, and approaches to, their role and journalists.

Indigenous knowledges : informing and supporting Indigenous students during their first year at university

This paper critically examines dominant discourses informing First Year Experience programs delivered for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students participating in higher education. We interrogate traditional ‘deficit models’ through the recognition and acknowledgement of Indigenous knowledge at the cultural interface, the arena in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students encounter university for the first time. In this paper, we demonstrate how the First Year Experience programs for Indigenous students, developed and delivered by the Oodgeroo Unit, are conceptualised by Indigenous knowledges. By recognising Indigenous knowledges and experiences, and valuing these within the Western academy, we provide an alternative to these dominant mainstream discourses and perspectives for Indigenous students navigating their way through university. We argue that Indigenous standpoints provide tools through which Indigenous students can negotiate the cultural interface that exists within the university environment.

Indigenous knowledge and effective parent / school partnerships : insights and issues from 4 school case studies

Towards the last decade of the last millennium, Indigenous knowledge has been central to scholarly debates relating to decolonising knowledge on a global level. Much of these debates were advanced by Indigenous scholars in colonised countries particularly Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. Indigenous scholars argue for the location of Indigenous knowledge as the epistemological standpoint (Battiste, Bell and Findlay, 2002; Kai’a, 2005; Nakata 2002, 2007) for intellectual engagements and methodology for resisting colonial constructions of the colonised other (Rigney, 1997; Smith, 1999, 2005). However, the challenge to engage Indigenous knowledge to inform research and educational processes, in many respects, is still a contested debate in western-oriented universities and institutions of higher education. The place of Indigenous knowledge in Australian secondary and primary schools remains vague, while efforts to embed Indigenous perspectives in the curriculum continue to be made by both government and private educational providers. Educational funding for Indigenous education continues to operate from a ‘deficiency’ model, whereby educational outcomes are often measured against set criteria, reflecting a pass/fail structure, than a more comprehensive investigation of educational outcomes and quality of learning experiences. Teacher knowledge, effective parental and community engagement into students’ learning and students’ experiences of schooling continue to be secondary to students’ final results. This paper presents preliminary findings of Parent School Partnership Initiative (PSPI) project conducted by the Oodgeroo Unit at the Queensland University of Technology in partnerships with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Focus Group for the Caboolture Shire, in South East Queensland. The state government sponsored initiative was to examine factors that promote and enhance parent/school engagement with their students’ schooling, and to contribute to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students’ learning and completion of secondary schooling within the participating schools in a more holistic way. We present four school case studies and discuss some of the early findings. We conclude by arguing the importance of the recognition of Indigenous knowledge and its place in enhancing parent – schools partnerships.

Revitalizing health for all : international Indigenous representative group. Learning from the experience of comprehensive primary health care in Aboriginal Australia — A commentary on three projects

This paper presents a regional commentary (hereafter ‘the commentary’) on the three Australian projects of the Teasdale-Corti Global Health Research Partnership Program. The three Australian projects are: Victorian Aboriginal Health Service Ltd (VAHS), Melbourne, Victoria—Forty Years of Comprehensive Primary Health Care; Central Australian Aboriginal Congress Inc. (Congress), Alice Springs, Northern Territory—Ingkintja, Male Health Program; and Urapuntja Health Service (UHS), Utopia, Northern Territory—Outstation Health Care. It highlights common themes and lessons in respect to the Revitalising Health for All project in the context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health in Australia.

Changing personal epistemologies in early childhood pre-service teachers using an integrated teaching program

This study investigated changes in pre-service teachers’ personal epistemologies as they engaged in an integrated teaching program. Personal epistemology refers to individual beliefs about the nature of knowing and knowledge and has been shown to influence teaching practice. An integrated approach to teaching, based on both an implicit and explicit focus on personal epistemology, was developed by an academic team within a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood). The teaching program integrated content across four units of study, modelling personal epistemologies implicitly through collaborative reflexive practice. The students were also required to engage in explicit reflections on their personal epistemologies. Quantitative measures of personal epistemology were collected at the beginning and end of the semester using the Epistemological Beliefs Survey (EBS) to assess changes across the teaching period. Results indicated that pre-service teachers’ epistemological beliefs about the integration of knowledge became more sophisticated over the course of the teaching period. Qualitative data included pre-service teachers’ responses to open ended questions and field experience journal reflections about their perceptions of the teaching program and were collected at the end of the semester. These data showed that pre-service teachers held different conceptions about learning as integration, which provided a more nuanced understanding of the EBS data. Understanding pre-service teachers’ epistemological beliefs provides promising directions for teacher preparation and professional enrichment.

Re-engaging adolescent students in science : an experienced teachers' classroom

Adolescents are both aware of and have the impetuous to exploit aspects of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) within their personal lives. Whether they are surfing, cycling, skateboarding or shopping, STEM concepts impact their lives. However science, mathematics, engineering and technology are still treated in the classroom as separate fragmented entities in the educational environment where most classroom talk is seemingly incomprehensible to the adolescent senses. The aim of this study was to examine the experiences of young adolescents with the aim of transforming school learning at least of science into meaningful experiences that connected with their lives using a self-study approach. Over a 12-month period, the researcher, an experienced secondary-science teacher, designed, implemented and documented a range of pedagogical practices with his Year-7 secondary science class. Data for this case study included video recordings, journals, interviews and surveys of students. By setting an environment empathetic to adolescent needs and understandings, students were able to actively explore phenomena collaboratively through developmentally appropriate experiences. Providing a more contextually relevant environment fostered meta-cognitive practices, encouraged new learning through open dialogue, multi-modal representations and assessments that contributed to building upon, re-affirming, or challenging both the students' prior learning and the teacher’s pedagogical content knowledge. A significant outcome of this study was the transformative experiences of an insider, the teacher as researcher, whose reflections provided an authentic model for reforming pedagogy in STEM classes.

Queensland College of Teachers annual lecture 2010 : child protection

Teachers have a crucial role as “sentinels” for children who have been abused or neglected. This professional development session will provide a framework for understanding the types, incidence and causes of child abuse and neglect, and teachers’ role in reporting suspected cases. The session will provide participants with knowledge and skills to enable them to identify warning signs and indicators of child abuse and neglect, know the basis of their duties to report suspected cases of abuse and neglect, and respond to the needs of abused and neglected children at school. The presentation will focus on: • the reasons why child abuse and neglect can occur; • the different types of child abuse and neglect and their effects on children; • the warning signs and indicators of physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect; • applying knowledge of indicators to make judgements about risk of harm; • responding to indications of risk of harm, including complying with legislative and policy-based duties to report suspected child abuse and neglect.

Optical non-destructive evaluation of articular cartilage integrity : a review

This paper reviews the current status of the application of optical non-destructive methods, particularly infrared (IR) and near infrared (NIR), in the evaluation of the physiological integrity of articular cartilage. It is concluded that a significant amount of work is still required in order to achieve specificity and clinical applicability of these methods in the assessment and treatment of dysfunctional articular joints.