Same old 'other' mother: Neil Gaiman's Coraline

Central to Coraline’s experiences in the fantasy world beyond the walls of her flat is the ‘other’ mother, who is initially constructed as an idealised image of maternal care whose only concern is for the welfare and comfort of her child. But as the story unfolds, this belle dame rapidly transforms into the ‘beldam sans merci’, an old crone, a she-devil whose real interest lies in the power she can draw from possessing the souls of children such as Coraline. This paper explores the Gaiman’s use of archetypes and cultural stereotypes of the mother figure that feminisms have been intent on expunging, interrogating, or appropriating in positive ways.

New evaluation methodologies for public art programs in cultural instiutions

I put my abstract in for this conference back in March, based on some evaluation work I had been doing in 2010 with my colleague Professor Greg Hearn for the 3C Regional Writing NeoGreography Project. I had been swapping notes with a colleague from the Smithsonian’s Centre for Folklife and Cultural Heritage about their evaluation work, and stuck inside during the rains of January, I decided to apply for a Qld Smithsonian fellowship based on the quandary of evaluation-particular in public histories (oral histories) and digital storytelling. In July I was awarded the fellowship, so I have tweaked my presentation to talk about what we hope to do with this collaboration, to propel the importance placed on evaluation in public arts programs in Qld and beyond.

From ethnocentrism to transculturalism : a film studies pedagogical journey

This study reviews the exploratory implementation of an ‘internationalising the curriculum’ policy in relation to a cultural studies unit within a Creative Industries Faculty at an Australian university. Charting certain pedagogical practices in the delivery of transnational film studies, this case study involves a critical, contextual examination of student feedback as well as current theories about transcultural curricula in general and film studies curricula in particular. The study shows that tertiary students can be provided with an extraordinarily rich range of differing, sometimes conflicting, but always engaging transcultural insights and understandings. It is further argued that transnational competencies may be developed and enabled through the innovative realisation of a type of ‘border crossing’ pedagogical model, largely by foregrounding transcultural ‘affective’ issues around social justice.

Genotype x culture media interaction effects on regeneration response of three indica rice cultivars

Interactive effects of genotypes with callus induction and regeneration media combinations on green plantlet regeneration response were studied for three indica rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars, IR-72, IR-54 and Karnal Local. Isolated mature-embryoswere used to derive scutellar callus and fifteen media combinations involvingMS, N6, R2, SK1 and some modifications were tested. Regeneration percentage as well as the shoot-bud induction frequency were influenced by genotype, callus induction medium, regeneration medium, interaction between genotype and the two media (callus induction and regeneration) as well the interaction between the callus induction medium and regeneration medium. Basal media combination of SK1m (callusing) and MS (regeneration) was found to be the best for cv. Karnal Local in which regeneration frequency of 88% and shoot-bud induction of 233% was observed. In IR-72, the highest regeneration frequency of 47.5% and shoot-bud induction frequency of 77% was obtained on MS-MS combination. In IR-54, highest regeneration frequency (25%) was recorded on MMS(N)-MMS(N) combination, whereas, highest frequency of shoot-bud induction (50%) was observed on MMS(S)-MS combination. Although genotype and the composition of the callus induction basal medium were the major determinants of regeneration response, an overall analysis of variation also revealed a significant interaction between the media used for de-differentiation (callusing) and re-differentiation (plantlet regeneration)

Performing design analysis: game design creativity and the theatre of the impressed

We report and reflect upon the early stages of a research project that endeavours to establish a culture of critical design thinking in a tertiary game design course. We first discuss the current state of the Australian game industry and consider some perceived issues in game design courses and graduate outcomes. The second sec-tion presents our response to these issues: a project in progress which uses techniques originally exploited by Augusto Boal in his work, Theatre of the Oppressed. We appropriate Boal’s method to promote critical design thinking in a games design class. Finally, we reflect on the project and the ontology of design thinking from the perspective of Bruce Archer’s call to reframe design as a ‘third academic art’.

Development of a 3D culture system to study the skeletal metastasis of prostate cancer

In the cancer research field, most in vitro studies still rely on two-dimensional (2D) cultures. However, the trend is rapidly shifting towards using a three-dimensional (3D) culture system. This is because 3D models better recapitulate the microenvironment of cells, and therefore, yield cellular and molecular responses that more accurately describe the pathophysiology of cancer. By adopting technology platforms established by the tissue engineering discipline, it is now possible to grow cancer cells in extracellular matrix (ECM)-like environments and dictate the biophysical and biochemical properties of the matrix. In addition, 3D models can be modified to recapitulate different stages of cancer progression for instance from the initial development of tumor to metastasis. Inevitably, to recapitulate a heterotypic condition, comprising more than one cell type, it requires a more complex 3D model. To date, 3D models that are available for studying the prostate cancer (CaP)-bone interactions are still lacking. Therefore, the aim of this study is to establish a co-culture model that allows investigation of direct and indirect CaP-bone interactions. Prior to that, 3D polyethylene glycol (PEG)-based hydrogel cultures for CaP cells were first developed and growth conditions were optimised. Characterization of the 3D hydrogel cultures show that LNCaP cells form a multicellular mass that resembles avascular tumor. In comparison to 2D cultures, besides the difference in cell morphology, the response of LNCaP cells to the androgen analogue (R1881) stimulation is different compared to the cells in 2D cultures. This discrepancy between 2D and 3D cultures is likely associated with the cell-cell contact, density and ligand-receptor interactions. Following the 3D monoculture study, a 3D direct co-culture model of CaP cells and the human tissue engineered bone (hTEBC) construct was developed. Interactions between the CaP cells and human osteoblasts (hOBs) resulted in elevation of Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) for PC-3 cells and Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) for LNCaP cells. To further investigate the paracrine interaction of CaP cells and (hOBs), a 3D indirect co-culture model was developed, where LNCaP cells embedded within PEG hydrogels were co-cultured with hTEBC. It was found that the cellular changes observed reflect the early event of CaP colonizing the bone site. In the absence of androgens, interestingly, up-regulation of PSA and other kallikreins is also detected in the co-culture compared to the LNCaP monoculture. This non androgenic stimulation could be triggered by the soluble factors secreted by the hOB such as Interleukin-6. There are also decrease in alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and down-regulation of genes of the hOB when co-cultured with LNCaP cells that have not been previously described. These genes include transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1), osteocalcin and Vimentin. However, no changes to epithelial markers (e.g E-cadherin, Cytokeratin 8) were observed in both cell types from the co-culture. Some of these intriguing changes observed in the co-cultures that had not been previously described have enriched the basic knowledge of the CaP cell-bone interaction. From this study, we have shown evidence of the feasibility and versatility of our established 3D models. These models can be adapted to test various hypotheses for studies pertaining to underlying mechanisms of bone metastasis and could provide a vehicle for anticancer drug screening purposes in the future.

The role of organisational culture, trust and mechanisms in inter-project knowledge sharing

Knowledge has been recognised as a powerful yet intangible asset, which is difficult to manage. This is especially true in a project environment where there is the potential to repeat mistakes, rather than learn from previous experiences. The literature in the project management field has recognised the importance of knowledge sharing (KS) within and between projects. However, studies in that field focus primarily on KS mechanisms including lessons learned (LL) and post project reviews as the source of knowledge for future projects, and only some preliminary research has been carried out on the aspects of project management offices (PMOs) and organisational culture (OC) in KS. This study undertook to investigate KS behaviours in an inter-project context, with a particular emphasis on the role of trust, OC and a range of knowledge sharing mechanisms (KSM) in achieving successful inter-project knowledge sharing (I-PKS). An extensive literature search resulted in the development of an I-PKS Framework, which defined the scope of the research and shaped its initial design. The literature review indicated that existing research relating to the three factors of OC, trust and KSM remains inadequate in its ability to fully explain the role of these contextual factors. In particular, the literature review identified these areas of interest: (1) the conflicting answers to some of the major questions related to KSM, (2) the limited empirical research on the role of different trust dimensions, (3) limited empirical evidence of the role of OC in KS, and (4) the insufficient research on KS in an inter-project context. The resulting Framework comprised the three main factors including: OC, trust and KSM, demonstrating a more integrated view of KS in the inter-project context. Accordingly, the aim of this research was to examine the relationships between these three factors and KS by investigating behaviours related to KS from the project managers‘ (PMs‘) perspective. In order to achieve the aim, this research sought to answer the following research questions: 1. How does organisational culture influence inter-project knowledge sharing? 2. How does the existence of three forms of trust — (i) ability, (ii) benevolence and (iii) integrity — influence inter-project knowledge sharing? 3. How can different knowledge sharing mechanisms (relational, project management tools and process, and technology) improve inter-project knowledge sharing behaviours? 4. How do the relationships between these three factors of organisational culture, trust and knowledge sharing mechanisms improve inter-project knowledge sharing? a. What are the relationships between the factors? b. What is the best fit for given cases to ensure more effective inter-project knowledge sharing? Using multiple case studies, this research was designed to build propositions emerging from cross-case data analysis. The four cases were chosen on the basis of theoretical sampling. All cases were large project-based organisations (PBOs), with a strong matrix-type structure, as per the typology proposed by the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK) (2008). Data were collected from project management departments of the respective organisations. A range of analytical techniques were used to deal with the data including pattern matching logic and explanation building analysis, complemented by the use of NVivo for data coding and management. Propositions generated at the end of the analyses were further compared with the extant literature, and practical implications based on the data and literature were suggested in order to improve I-PKS. Findings from this research conclude that OC, trust, and KSM contribute to inter-project knowledge sharing, and suggest the existence of relationships between these factors. In view of that, this research identified the relationships between different trust dimensions, suggesting that integrity trust reinforces the relationship between ability trust and knowledge sharing. Furthermore, this research demonstrated that characteristics of culture and trust interact to reinforce preferences for mechanisms of knowledge sharing. This means that cultures that facilitate characteristics of Clan type are more likely to result in trusting relationships, hence are more likely to use organic sources of knowledge for both tacit and explicit knowledge exchange. In contrast, cultures that are empirically driven, based on control, efficiency, and measures (characteristics of Hierarchy and Market types) display tendency to develop trust primarily in ability of non-organic sources, and therefore use these sources to share mainly explicit knowledge. This thesis contributes to the project management literature by providing a more integrative view of I-PKS, bringing the factors of OC, trust and KSM into the picture. A further contribution is related to the use of collaborative tools as a substitute for static LL databases and as a facilitator for tacit KS between geographically dispersed projects. This research adds to the literature on OC by providing rich empirical evidence of the relationships between OC and the willingness to share knowledge, and by providing empirical evidence that OC has an effect on trust; in doing so this research extends the theoretical propositions outlined by previous research. This study also extends the research on trust by identifying the relationships between different trust dimensions, suggesting that integrity trust reinforces the relationship between ability trust and KS. Finally, this research provides some directions for future studies.

The Cyndi Lauper affect: Bodies, girlhood and popular culture through the collective biography process

Using a collective biography method informed by a Deleuzian theoretical approach (Davies & Gannon, 2009), this paper analyses embodied memories of girlhood becomings through affective engagements with resonating images in media and popular culture.

Breaking organizational barriers for greening Australian

Sustainability is an issue for everyone. For instance, the higher education sector is being asked to take an active part in creating a sustainable future, due to their moral responsibility, social obligation, and their own need to adapt to the changing higher education environment. By either signing declarations or making public statements, many universities are expressing their desire to become role models for enhancing sustainability. However, too often they have not delivered as much as they had intended. This is particularly evident in the lack of physical implementation of sustainable practices in the campus environment. Real projects such as green technologies on campus have the potential to rectify the problem in addition to improving building performance. Despite being relatively recent innovations, Green Roof and Living Wall have been widely recognized because of their substantial benefits, such as runoff water reduction, noise insulation, and the promotion of biodiversity. While they can be found in commercial and residential buildings, they only appear infrequently on campuses as universities have been very slow to implement sustainability innovations. There has been very little research examining the fundamental problems from the organizational perspective. To address this deficiency, the researchers designed and carried out 24 semi-structured interviews to investigate the general organizational environment of Australian universities with the intention to identify organizational obstacles to the delivery of Green Roof and Living Wall projects. This research revealed that the organizational environment of Australian universities still has a lot of room to be improved in order to accommodate sustainability practices. Some of the main organizational barriers to the adoption of sustainable innovations were identified including lack of awareness and knowledge, the absence of strong supportive leadership, a weak sustainability-rooted culture and several management challenges. This led to the development of a set of strategies to help optimize the organizational environment for the purpose of better decision making for Green Roof and Living Wall implementation.

Building and construction industries supply chain project (domestic) : report for Commonwealth Department of Industry, Science and Resources

The Commonwealth Department of Industry, Science and Resources is identifying best practice case study examples of supply chain management within the building and construction industry to illustrate the concepts, innovations and initiatives that are at work. The projects provide individual enterprises with examples of how to improve their performance, and the competitiveness of the industry as a whole.

Viruses of banana in East Africa

Bananas are one of the world's most important food crops, providing sustenance and income for millions of people in developing countries and supporting large export industries. Viruses are considered major constraints to banana production, germplasm multiplication and exchange, and to genetic improvement of banana through traditional breeding. In Africa, the two most important virus diseases are bunchy top, caused by Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV), and banana streak disease, caused by Banana streak virus (BSV). BBTV is a serious production constraint in a number of countries within/bordering East Africa, such as Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda and Zambia, but is not present in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Additionally, epidemics of banana streak disease are occurring in Kenya and Uganda. The rapidly growing tissue culture (TC) industry within East Africa, aiming to provide planting material to banana farmers, has stimulated discussion about the need for virus indexing to certify planting material as virus-free. Diagnostic methods for BBTV and BSV have been reported and, for BBTV, PCR-based assays are reliable and relatively straightforward. However for BSV, high levels of serological and genetic variability and the presence of endogenous virus sequences within the banana genome complicate diagnosis. Uganda has been shown to contain the greatest diversity in BSV isolates found anywhere in the world. A broad-spectrum diagnostic test for BSV detection, which can discriminate between endogenous and episomal BSV sequences, is a priority. This PhD project aimed to establish diagnostic methods for banana viruses, with a particular focus on the development of novel methods for BSV detection, and to use these diagnostic methods for the detection and characterisation of banana viruses in East Africa. A novel rolling-circle amplification (RCA) method was developed for the detection of BSV. Using samples of Banana streak MY virus (BSMYV) and Banana streak OL virus (BSOLV) from Australia, this method was shown to distinguish between endogenous and episomal BSV sequences in banana plants. The RCA assay was used to screen a collection of 56 banana samples from south-west Uganda for BSV. RCA detected at least five distinct BSV isolates in these samples, including BSOLV and Banana streak GF virus (BSGFV) as well as three BSV isolates (Banana streak Uganda-I, -L and -M virus) for which only partial sequences had been previously reported. These latter three BSV had only been detected using immuno-capture (IC)-PCR and thus were possible endogenous sequences. In addition to its ability to detect BSV, the RCA protocol was also demonstrated to detect other viruses within the family Caulimoviridae, including Sugar cane bacilliform virus, and Cauliflower mosaic virus. Using the novel RCA method, three distinct BSV isolates from both Kenya and Uganda were identified and characterised. The complete genome of these isolates was sequenced and annotated. All six isolates were shown to have a characteristic badnavirus genome organisation with three open reading frames (ORFs) and the large polyprotein encoded by ORF 3 was shown to contain conserved amino acid motifs for movement, aspartic protease, reverse transcriptase and ribonuclease H activities. As well, several sequences important for expression and replication of the virus genome were identified including the conserved tRNAmet primer binding site present in the intergenic region of all badnaviruses. Based on the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) guidelines for species demarcation in the genus Badnavirus, these six isolates were proposed as distinct species, and named Banana streak UA virus (BSUAV), Banana streak UI virus (BSUIV), Banana streak UL virus (BSULV), Banana streak UM virus (BSUMV), Banana streak CA virus (BSCAV) and Banana streak IM virus (BSIMV). Using PCR with species-specific primers designed to each isolate, a genotypically diverse collection of 12 virus-free banana cultivars were tested for the presence of endogenous sequences. For five of the BSV no amplification was observed in any cultivar tested, while for BSIMV, four positive samples were identified in cultivars with a B-genome component. During field visits to Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, 143 samples were collected and assayed for BSV. PCR using nine sets of species-specific primers, and RCA, were compared for BSV detection. For five BSV species with no known endogenous counterpart (namely BSCAV, BSUAV, BSUIV, BSULV and BSUMV), PCR was used to detect 30 infections from the 143 samples. Using RCA, 96.4% of these samples were considered positive, with one additional sample detected using RCA which was not positive using PCR. For these five BSV, PCR and RCA were both useful for identifying infected samples, irrespective of the host cultivar genotype (Musa A- or B-genome components). For four additional BSV with known endogenous counterparts in the M. balbisiana genome (BSOLV, BSGFV, BSMYV and BSIMV), PCR was shown to detect 75 infections from the 143 samples. In 30 samples from cultivars with an A-only genome component there was 96.3% agreement between PCR positive samples and detection using RCA, again demonstrating either PCR or RCA are suitable methods for detection. However, in 45 samples from cultivars with some B-genome component, the level of agreement between PCR positive samples and RCA positive samples was 70.5%. This suggests that, in cultivars with some B-genome component, many infections were detected using PCR which were the result of amplification of endogenous sequences. In these latter cases, RCA or another method which discriminates between endogenous and episomal sequences, such as immuno-capture PCR, is needed to diagnose episomal BSV infection. Field visits were made to Malawi and Rwanda to collect local isolates of BBTV for validation of a PCR-based diagnostic assay. The presence of BBTV in samples of bananas with bunchy top disease was confirmed in 28 out of 39 samples from Malawi and all nine samples collected in Rwanda, using PCR and RCA. For three isolates, one from Malawi and two from Rwanda, the complete nucleotide sequences were determined and shown to have a similar genome organisation to previously published BBTV isolates. The two isolates from Rwanda had at least 98.1% nucleotide sequence identity between each of the six DNA components, while the similarity between isolates from Rwanda and Malawi was between 96.2% and 99.4% depending on the DNA component. At the amino acid level, similarities in the putative proteins encoded by DNA-R, -S, -M, - C and -N were found to range between 98.8% to 100%. In a phylogenetic analysis, the three East African isolates clustered together within the South Pacific subgroup of BBTV isolates. Nucleotide sequence comparison to isolates of BBTV from outside Africa identified India as the possible origin of East African isolates of BBTV.

Confrontation and cooptation : a brief history of Australian political blogs

The history of political blogging in Australia does not entirely match the development of blogospheres in other countries. Even at its beginning, blogging was not an entirely alternative endeavour – one of the first news or political blogs was Margo Kingston’s Webdiary, hosted by the Sydney Morning Herald. In the United States, whose political blogosphere has been examined most comprehensively in the literature (see e.g. Adamic & Glance, 2005; Drezner & Farrell, 2008; Shaw & Benkler, 2012; Tremayne, 2007; Wallsten, 2008), blogging had a clear historical trajectory from alternative to mainstream medium. The Australian blogosphere, by contrast, has seen early and continued involvement from representatives of the mainstream media, blogging both for their employers and independently (Garden, 2010). Coupled with the incorporation of blog-like technologies into news websites, as well as with obvious differences in the size of the available talent pool and potential audience for political blogging in Australia, this recognition of blogging by the mainstream media may be one reason why, in political and news discussions at least, Australian bloggers did not bring about their own, local equivalents to the resignations of Dan Rather or Trent Lott in the U.S. –events which were commonly attributed in part to the work of bloggers (Simons, 2007). However, the acceptance of the blogging concept by the mainstream media has been accompanied by a comparative lack of acceptance towards individual bloggers. Analyses and commentary published by bloggers have been attacked by journalists, creating an at times antagonistic relationship between the mainstream media and bloggers (Flew & Wilson, 2010; Young, 2011). In this article, we examine the historical development of blogging in Australia, focussing primarily on political and news blogs. In particular, we review who the bloggers are and how the connections between different blogs and other titles have changed over the past decade. The paper tracks the evolution of individual and group blogs, independent and mainstream media-hosted opinion sites, and the gradual convergence of these platforms and their associated contributing authors. We conclude by examining the current state of the Australian blogosphere and its likely future development, taking into account the rise of social media, and in particular Twitter, as additional spaces for public commentary.