Languages of Communication : Indigenous language and/or English?

My interest in producing this paper on Indigenous languages was borne out of conversations with and learnings from community members in the Torres Straits and those connected to the ‘Dream Circle’. Nakata (2003, p. 12) laments the situation whereby ‘teachers are transitionary and take their hard-earned knowledge with them when they leave’. I am thus responding to the call to add to the conversation in a productive albeit culturally loaded way. To re-iterate, I am neither Indigenous nor am I experienced in teaching and learning in these contexts. As problematic as these two points are, I am in many ways typical of the raft of inexperienced white Australian teachers assigned to positions in school contexts where Indigenous students are enrolled or in mainstream contexts with substantial populations of Indigenous students. By penning this article, it is neither my intention to contribute to the silencing of Indigenous educators or Indigenous communities. My intention is to articulate my teacherly reflections as they apply to the topic under discussion. The remainder of this paper is presented in three sections. The next section provides a brief overview of the number of Indigenous people and Indigenous languages in Australia and the role of English as a language of communication. The section which follows draws on theorisations from second/additional language acquisition to overview three different schools of thought about the consequences of English in the lives of Indigenous Australians. The paper concludes by considering the tensions for inexperienced white Australian teachers caught up in the fray.

Optimisation of Banana streak virus (BSV) diagnostic assays

Bananas are one of the world�fs most important crops, serving as a staple food and an important source of income for millions of people in the subtropics. Pests and diseases are a major constraint to banana production. To prevent the spread of pests and disease, farmers are encouraged to use disease�] and insect�]free planting material obtained by micropropagation. This option, however, does not always exclude viruses and concern remains on the quality of planting material. Therefore, there is a demand for effective and reliable virus indexing procedures for tissue culture (TC) material. Reliable diagnostic tests are currently available for all of the economically important viruses of bananas with the exception of Banana streak viruses (BSV, Caulimoviridae, Badnavirus). Development of a reliable diagnostic test for BSV is complicated by the significant serological and genetic variation reported for BSV isolates, and the presence of endogenous BSV (eBSV). Current PCR�] and serological�]based diagnostic methods for BSV may not detect all species of BSV, and PCR�]based methods may give false positives because of the presence of eBSV. Rolling circle amplification (RCA) has been reported as a technique to detect BSV which can also discriminate between episomal and endogenous BSV sequences. However, the method is too expensive for large scale screening of samples in developing countries, and little information is available regarding its sensitivity. Therefore the development of reliable PCR�]based assays is still considered the most appropriate option for large scale screening of banana plants for BSV. This MSc project aimed to refine and optimise the protocols for BSV detection, with a particular focus on developing reliable PCR�]based diagnostics Initially, the appropriateness and reliability of PCR and RCA as diagnostic tests for BSV detection were assessed by testing 45 field samples of banana collected from nine districts in the Eastern region of Uganda in February 2010. This research was also aimed at investigating the diversity of BSV in eastern Uganda, identifying the BSV species present and characterising any new BSV species. Out of the 45 samples tested, 38 and 40 samples were considered positive by PCR and RCA, respectively. Six different species of BSV, namely Banana streak IM virus (BSIMV), Banana streak MY virus (BSMYV), Banana streak OL virus (BSOLV), Banana streak UA virus (BSUAV), Banana streak UL virus (BSULV), Banana streak UM virus (BSUMV), were detected by PCR and confirmed by RCA and sequencing. No new species were detected, but this was the first report of BSMYV in Uganda. Although RCA was demonstrated to be suitable for broad�]range detection of BSV, it proved time�]consuming and laborious for identification in field samples. Due to the disadvantages associated with RCA, attempts were made to develop a reliable PCR�]based assay for the specific detection of episomal BSOLV, Banana streak GF virus (BSGFV), BSMYV and BSIMV. For BSOLV and BSGFV, the integrated sequences exist in rearranged, repeated and partially inverted portions at their site of integration. Therefore, for these two viruses, primers sets were designed by mapping previously published sequences of their endogenous counterparts onto published sequences of the episomal genomes. For BSOLV, two primer sets were designed while, for BSGFV, a single primer set was designed. The episomalspecificity of these primer sets was assessed by testing 106 plant samples collected during surveys in Kenya and Uganda, and 33 leaf samples from a wide range of banana cultivars maintained in TC at the Maroochy Research Station of the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI), Queensland. All of these samples had previously been tested for episomal BSV by RCA and for both BSOLV and BSGFV by PCR using published primer sets. The outcome from these analyses was that the newly designed primer sets for BSOLV and BSGFV were able to distinguish between episomal BSV and eBSV in most cultivars with some B�]genome component. In some samples, however, amplification was observed using the putative episomal�]specific primer sets where episomal BSV was not identified using RCA. This may reflect a difference in the sensitivity of PCR compared to RCA, or possibly the presence of an eBSV sequence of different conformation. Since the sequences of the respective eBSV for BSMYV and BSIMV in the M. balbisiana genome are not available, a series of random primer combinations were tested in an attempt to find potential episomal�]specific primer sets for BSMYV and BSIMV. Of an initial 20 primer combinations screened for BSMYV detection on a small number of control samples, 11 primers sets appeared to be episomal�]specific. However, subsequent testing of two of these primer combinations on a larger number of control samples resulted in some inconsistent results which will require further investigation. Testing of the 25 primer combinations for episomal�]specific detection of BSIMV on a number of control samples showed that none were able to discriminate between episomal and endogenous BSIMV. The final component of this research project was the development of an infectious clone of a BSV endemic in Australia, namely BSMYV. This was considered important to enable the generation of large amounts of diseased plant material needed for further research. A terminally redundant fragment (.1.3 �~ BSMYV genome) was cloned and transformed into Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain AGL1, and used to inoculate 12 healthy banana plants of the cultivars Cavendish (Williams) by three different methods. At 12 weeks post�]inoculation, (i) four of the five banana plants inoculated by corm injection showed characteristic BSV symptoms while the remaining plant was wilting/dying, (ii) three of the five banana plants inoculated by needle�]pricking of the stem showed BSV symptoms, one plant was symptomless while the remaining had died and (iii) both banana plants inoculated by leaf infiltration were symptomless. When banana leaf samples were tested for BSMYV by PCR and RCA, BSMYV was confirmed in all banana plants showing symptoms including those were wilting and/or dying. The results from this research have provided several avenues for further research. By completely sequencing all variants of eBSOLV and eBSGFV and fully sequencing the eBSIMV and eBSMYV regions, episomal BSV�]specific primer sets for all eBSVs could potentially be designed that could avoid all integrants of that particular BSV species. Furthermore, the development of an infectious BSV clone will enable large numbers of BSVinfected plants to be generated for the further testing of the sensitivity of RCA compared to other more established assays such as PCR. The development of infectious clones also opens the possibility for virus induced gene silencing studies in banana.

The promise of Iceland

Memoir, 288 pages. An account of journeys made by the author from Australia to Iceland as a way of interrogating notions of cultural belonging, family, and homecoming. "In 1990, Kári Gíslason travelled to Iceland to meet his father for the first time. What he finds is not what he expected. Born from a secret liaison between a British mother and an Icelandic father, Kári Gíslason was the subject of a promise – a promise elicited from his father to not reveal his identity. The Icelandic city of Reykjavík, where Kári was born, was also home to his father and his father’s wife and five children – none of whom knew of Kári’s existence. Moving regularly between Iceland and Australia, he grew up aware of his father’s identity, but understanding that it was the subject of a secret pact between his parents. At the age of 27, he makes a decision to break the pact and contacts his father’s other family. What follows, and what leads him there, makes for a riveting journey over landscapes, time and memory. Kári travels from the freezing cold winters of Iceland to the shark net at Sydney’s Balmoral, an unsettled life in the English countryside and the harsh yellow summer of Brisbane, and back again. He traces the steps of his mother who answered an ad in The Times for an English-speaking secretary in 1970 and found herself in Iceland among the ‘Army of Foreign Secretaries’, and in the arms of a secret lover. Iceland becomes the substitute for the father Kári never really knew as he discovers the meaning of ‘home’ and closes the circle of his own fatherless life."-- publisher website

Next-generation sequencing of cervical DNA detects human papillomavirus types not detected by commercial kits

Background Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the aetiological agent for cervical cancer and genital warts. Concurrent HPV and HIV infection in the South African population is high. HIV positive (+) women are often infected with multiple, rare and undetermined HPV types. Data on HPV incidence and genotype distribution are based on commercial HPV detection kits, but these kits may not detect all HPV types in HIV + women. The objectives of this study were to (i) identify the HPV types not detected by commercial genotyping kits present in a cervical specimen from an HIV positive South African woman using next generation sequencing, and (ii) determine if these types were prevalent in a cohort of HIV-infected South African women. Methods Total DNA was isolated from 109 cervical specimens from South African HIV + women. A specimen within this cohort representing a complex multiple HPV infection, with 12 HPV genotypes detected by the Roche Linear Array HPV genotyping (LA) kit, was selected for next generation sequencing analysis. All HPV types present in this cervical specimen were identified by Illumina sequencing of the extracted DNA following rolling circle amplification. The prevalence of the HPV types identified by sequencing, but not included in the Roche LA, was then determined in the 109 HIV positive South African women by type-specific PCR. Results Illumina sequencing identified a total of 16 HPV genotypes in the selected specimen, with four genotypes (HPV-30, 74, 86 and 90) not included in the commercial kit. The prevalence's of HPV-30, 74, 86 and 90 in 109 HIV positive South African women were found to be 14.6 %, 12.8 %, 4.6 % and 8.3 % respectively. Conclusions Our results indicate that there are HPV types, with substantial prevalence, in HIV positive women not being detected in molecular epidemiology studies using commercial kits. The significance of these types in relation to cervical disease remains to be investigated.

A protocol for the rapid isolation of full geminivirus genomes from dried plant tissue

A high-throughput method of isolating and cloning geminivirus genomes from dried plant material, by combining an Extract-n-Amp™-based DNA isolation technique with rolling circle amplification (RCA) of viral DNA, is presented. Using this method an attempt was made to isolate and clone full geminivirus genomes/genome components from 102 plant samples, including dried leaves stored at room temperature for between 6 months and 10 years, with an average hands-on-time to RCA-ready DNA of 15 min per 20 samples. While storage of dried leaves for up to 6 months did not appreciably decrease cloning success rates relative to those achieved with fresh samples, efficiency of the method decreased with increasing storage time. However, it was still possible to clone virus genomes from 47% of 10-year-old samples. To illustrate the utility of this simple method for high-throughput geminivirus diversity studies, six Maize streak virus genomes, an Abutilon mosaic virus DNA-B component and the DNA-A component of a previously unidentified New Word begomovirus species were fully sequenced. Genomic clones of the 69 other viruses were verified as such by end sequencing. This method should be extremely useful for the study of any circular DNA plant viruses with genome component lengths smaller than the maximum size amplifiable by RCA. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Rapid host adaptation by extensive recombination

Experimental investigations into virus recombination can provide valuable insights into the biochemical mechanisms and the evolutionary value of this fundamental biological process. Here, we describe an experimental scheme for studying recombination that should be applicable to any recombinogenic viruses amenable to the production of synthetic infectious genomes. Our approach is based on differences in fitness that generally exist between synthetic chimaeric genomes and the wild-type viruses from which they are constructed. In mixed infections of defective reciprocal chimaeras, selection strongly favours recombinant progeny genomes that recover a portion of wild-type fitness. Characterizing these evolved progeny viruses can highlight both important genetic fitness determinants and the contribution that recombination makes to the evolution of their natural relatives. Moreover, these experiments supply precise information about the frequency and distribution of recombination breakpoints, which can shed light on the mechanistic processes underlying recombination. We demonstrate the value of this approach using the small single-stranded DNA geminivirus, maize streak virus (MSV). Our results show that adaptive recombination in this virus is extremely efficient and can yield complex progeny genomes comprising up to 18 recombination breakpoints. The patterns of recombination that we observe strongly imply that the mechanistic processes underlying rolling circle replication are the prime determinants of recombination breakpoint distributions found in MSV genomes sampled from nature. © 2009 SGM.

Replicative intermediates of maize streak virus found during leaf development

Geminiviruses of the genera Begomovirus and Curtovirus utilize three replication modes: complementary-strand replication (CSR), rolling-circle replication (RCR) and recombinationdependent replication (RDR). Using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, we now show for the first time that maize streak virus (MSV), the type member of the most divergent geminivirus genus, Mastrevirus, does the same. Although mastreviruses have fewer regulatory genes than other geminiviruses and uniquely express their replication-associated protein (Rep) from a spliced transcript, the replicative intermediates of CSR, RCR and RDR could be detected unequivocally within infected maize tissues. All replicative intermediates accumulated early and, to varying degrees, were already present in the shoot apex and leaves at different maturation stages. Relative to other replicative intermediates, those associated with RCR increased in prevalence during leaf maturation. Interestingly, in addition to RCR-associated DNA forms seen in other geminiviruses, MSV also apparently uses dimeric open circular DNA as a template for RCR. © 2010 SGM.

Phenomenography : opening a new territory for library and information science research

Phenomenography is a research approach devised to allow the investigation of varying ways in which people experience aspects of their world. Whilst growing attention is being paid to interpretative research in LIS, it is not always clear how the outcomes of such research can be used in practice. This article explores the potential contribution of phenomenography in advancing the application of phenomenological and hermeneutic frameworks to LIS theory, research and practice. In phenomenography we find a research toll which in revealing variation, uncovers everyday understandings of phenomena and provides outcomes which are readily applicable to professional practice. THe outcomes may be used in human computer interface design, enhancement, implementation and training, in the design and evaluation of services, and in education and training for both end users and information professionals. A proposed research territory for phenomenography in LIS includes investigating qualitative variation in the experienced meaning of: 1) information and its role in society 2) LIS concepts and principles 3) LIS processes and; 4) LIS elements.

A framework of promoting stakeholder mutual benefits for sustainable housing implementation

Strong regulatory pressure and rising public awareness on environmental issues will continue to influence the market demand for sustainable housing for years to come. Despite this potential, the voluntary uptake rate of sustainable practices is not as high as expected within the new built housing industry. This is in contrast to the influx of emerging building technologies, new materials and innovative designs as showcased in office buildings and exemplar homes worldwide. One of the possible reasons for this under-performance is that key stakeholders such as developers, builders and consumers do not fully understand and appreciate the related challenges, risks and opportunities of pursuing sustainability. Therefore, in their professional and business activities, they may not be able to see the tangible and mutual benefits that sustainable housing may bring. This research investigates the multiple challenges to achieving benefits (CABs) from sustainable housing development, and links these factors to the characteristics of key stakeholders in the housing supply chain. It begins with a comparative survey study among seven stakeholder groups in the Australian housing industry, in order to examine the importance and interrelationships of CABs. In-depth interviews then further explore the survey findings with a focus on stakeholder diversity, which leads to the identification of 12 critical mutual-benefit factors and their interrelationship. Based on such a platform, a mutual-benefit framework is developed with the aid of Interpretive Structure Modelling, to identify the patterns of stakeholder benefit materialisation, suggest the priority of critical factors and provide related stakeholder-specific action guidelines for sustainable housing implementation. The study concludes with a case study of two real-life housing projects to test the application of the mutual-benefit framework for improvement. This framework will lead to a shared value of sustainability among stakeholders and improved stakeholder collaboration, which in turn help to break the "circle of blame" for the current under-performance of sustainable housing implementation.

Games for change and transformative learning : an ethnographic case study

This thesis aims to contribute to a better understanding of how serious games/games for change function as learning frameworks for transformative learning in an educational setting. This study illustrates how the meaning-making processes and learning with and through computer gameplay are highly contingent, and are significantly influenced by the uncertainties of the situational context. The study focuses on SCAPE, a simulation game that addresses urban planning and sustainability. SCAPE is based on the real-world scenario of Kelvin Grove Urban Village, an inner city redevelopment area in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The game is embedded within an educational program, and I thus account for the various gameplay experiences of different school classes participating in this program. The networks emerging from the interactions between students/players, educators, facilitators, the technology, the researcher, as well as the setting, result in unanticipated, controversial, and sometimes unintended gameplay experiences and outcomes. To unpack play, transformative learning and games, this study adopts an ecological approach that considers the magic circle of gameplay in its wider context. Using Actor-Network Theory as the ontological lens for inquiry, the methods for investigation include an extensive literature review, ethnographic participant observation of SCAPE, as well as student and teacher questionnaires, finishing with interviews with the designers and facilitators of SCAPE. Altogether, these methods address my research aim to better understand how the heterogeneous actors engage in the relationships in and around gameplay, and illustrate how their conflicting understandings enable, shape or constrain the (transformative) learning experience. To disentangle these complexities, my focus continuously shifts between the following modes of inquiry into the aims „h To describe and analyse the game as a designed artefact. „h To examine the gameplay experiences of players/students and account for how these experiences are constituted in the relationships of the network. „h To trace the meaning-making processes emerging from the various relations of players/students, facilitators, teachers, designers, technology, researcher, and setting, and consider how the boundaries of the respective ecology are configured and negotiated. „h To draw out the implications for the wider research area of game-based learning by using the simulation game SCAPE as an example for introducing gameplay to educational settings. Accounting in detail for five school classes, these accounts represent, each in its own right, distinct and sometimes controversial forms of engagement in gameplay. The practices and negotiations of all the assembled human and non-human actors highlight the contingent nature of gameplay and learning. In their sum, they offer distinct but by no means exhaustive examples of the various relationships that emerge from the different assemblages of human and non-human actors. This thesis, hence, illustrates that game-based learning in an educational setting is accompanied by considerable unpredictability and uncertainty. As ordinary life spills and leaks into gameplay experiences, group dynamics and the negotiations of technology, I argue that overly deterministic assertions of the game¡¦s intention, as well as a too narrowly defined understanding of the transformative learning outcome, can constrain our inquiries and hinder efforts to further elucidate and understand the evolving uncertainties around game-based learning. Instead, this thesis posits that playing and transformative learning are relational effects of the respective ecology, where all actors are networked in their (partial) enrolment in the process of translation. This study thus attempts to foreground the rich opportunities for exploring how game-based learning is assembled as a network of practices.

Cell migration and proliferation on homogeneous and non-homogeneous domains : modelling on the scale of individuals and populations

Cell migration is a behaviour critical to many key biological effects, including wound healing, cancerous cell invasion and morphogenesis, the development of an organism from an embryo. However, given that each of these situations is distinctly different and cells are extremely complicated biological objects, interest lies in more basic experiments which seek to remove conflating factors and present a less complex environment within which cell migration can be experimentally examined. These include in vitro studies like the scratch assay or circle migration assay, and ex vivo studies like the colonisation of the hindgut by neural crest cells. The reduced complexity of these experiments also makes them much more enticing as problems to mathematically model, like done here. The primary goal of the mathematical models used in this thesis is to shed light on which cellular behaviours work to generate the travelling waves of invasion observed in these experiments, and to explore how variations in these behaviours can potentially predict differences in this invasive pattern which are experimentally observed when cell types or chemical environment are changed. Relevant literature has already identified the difficulty of distinguishing between these behaviours when using traditional mathematical biology techniques operating on a macroscopic scale, and so here a sophisticated individual-cell-level model, an extension of the Cellular Potts Model (CPM), is been constructed and used to model a scratch assay experiment. This model includes a novel mechanism for dealing with cell proliferations that allowed for the differing properties of quiescent and proliferative cells to be implemented into their behaviour. This model is considered both for its predictive power and used to make comparisons with the travelling waves which result in more traditional macroscopic simulations. These comparisons demonstrate a surprising amount of agreement between the two modelling frameworks, and suggest further novel modifications to the CPM that would allow it to better model cell migration. Considerations of the model’s behaviour are used to argue that the dominant effect governing cell migration (random motility or signal-driven taxis) likely depends on the sort of invasion demonstrated by cells, as easily seen by microscopic photography. Additionally, a scratch assay simulated on a non-homogeneous domain consisting of a ’fast’ and ’slow’ region is also used to further differentiate between these different potential cell motility behaviours. A heterogeneous domain is a novel situation which has not been considered mathematically in this context, nor has it been constructed experimentally to the best of the candidate’s knowledge. Thus this problem serves as a thought experiment used to test the conclusions arising from the simulations on homogeneous domains, and to suggest what might be observed should this non-homogeneous assay situation be experimentally realised. Non-intuitive cell invasion patterns are predicted for diffusely-invading cells which respond to a cell-consumed signal or nutrient, contrasted with rather expected behaviour in the case of random-motility-driven invasion. The potential experimental observation of these behaviours is demonstrated by the individual-cell-level model used in this thesis, which does agree with the PDE model in predicting these unexpected invasion patterns. In the interest of examining such a case of a non-homogeneous domain experimentally, some brief suggestion is made as to how this could be achieved.

The role for police in addressing alcohol-related harm inside and outside licensed premises

Alcohol consumption is enmeshed with Australian culture (Palk, 2008) and the use and misuse of alcohol contributes to considerable health and social harms (Barbor et al., 2010; English et al., 1995; Gutjahr, Gmel, & Rehm, 2001; Palk, 2008; Steenkamp, Harrison, & Allsop, 2002). Despite shifts in the way that alcohol is consumed and how it is used, it has been reported that one-third of all alcohol consumed is done so within licensed premises (Lang, Stockwell, Rydon, & Gamble, 1992). Consequently, licensed premises are over-represented as settings in which alcohol-related harms occur. These harms, particularly those related to violence, are associated with particular licensed premises operating in the night-time economy (Briscoe & Donnelly, 2001b; Chikritzhs, Stockwell, & Masters, 1997; Homel, Tomsen, & Thommeny, 1991; Stockwell, 1997). Police have a role in not only responding to the manifestation of harms, such as crime, injuries, assaults, domestic violence, stealing and sexual offences, but they also have a role in preventing problems, and thereby reducing alcohol and other drug-related harms (Doherty & Roche, 2003). Given the extent of alcohol consumption within licensed premises and the nature and extent of the harms, as well as the lack of opportunity to influence outcomes in other settings (e.g. the home), licensed premises offer police and other stakeholders a significant opportunity to influence positively the reduction of alcoholrelated harm. This research focuses specifically on the police role in policing licensed premises. Primarily, this research aims to investigate the factors which are relevant to why and how police officers respond to alcohol-related incidents inside and outside licensed premises. It examines the attitudes and beliefs of police and assesses their knowledge, capacity and ability to effectively police licensed premises. The research methodology uses three distinct surveys. Each contributes to understanding the motivations and practice of police officers in this important area of harm reduction. Study One involved a survey of police officers within a police district (Brisbane Central District) in Queensland, Australia and used a comprehensive questionnaire involving both quantitative and qualitative techniques. A key research outcome of Study One was the finding that officers had low levels of knowledge of the strategies that are effective in addressing alcohol-related harm both inside and outside licensed premises. Paradoxically, these officers also reported extensive recent experience in dealing with alcohol issues in these locations. In addition, these officers reported that alcohol was a significant contextual factor in the majority of matters to which they responded. Officers surveyed reported that alcohol increased the difficulty of responding to situations and that licensed premises (e.g. nightclubs, licensed clubs and hotels) were the most difficult contexts to police. Those surveyed were asked to self-assess their knowledge of the Liquor Act (Qld), which is the primary legislative authority in Queensland for regulating licensed premises. Surprisingly, well over half of the officers (65%) reported ‘no’ to ‘fair’ knowledge of the Act, despite officers believing that their skill level to police such premises was in the ‘good to very good range’. In an important finding, officers reported greater skill level to police outside licensed premises than inside such premises, indicating that officers felt less capable, from a skill perspective, to operate within the confines of a licensed premise than in the environment immediately outside such premises. Another key finding was that officers reported greater levels of training in responding to situations outside and around licensed premises than to situations inside licensed premises. Officers were also asked to identify the frequency with which they employed specified regulatory enforcement and community-based strategies. Irrespective of the type of response, ‘taking no action’ or passive policing interventions were not favoured by officers. The findings identified that officers favoured taking a range of strategies (sending home, releasing into the custody of friends, etc.) in preference to arrest. In another key finding, officers generally reported their support for operational stakeholder partnership approaches to policing licensed premises. This was evidenced by the high number of officers (over 90%) reporting that there should be shared responsibility for enforcing the provisions of the Liquor Act. Importantly, those surveyed also identified the factors which constrain or prevent them from policing licensed premises. Study Two involved interviewing a small but comprehensive group (n=11) of senior managers from within the Queensland Police Service (QPS) who have responsibility for setting operational and strategic policy. The aim of this study was to examine the attitudes, perceptions and influence that senior officers (at the strategy and policy-setting level) had on the officers at the operational level. This qualitative study was carried out using a purposive sampling (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005; Guba & Lincoln, 1989), focused interview and thematic analytic approach. The interview participants were drawn from three tiers of management at district, regional as well as the whole-of-organisational level. The first key theme emerging from the study related to role, in terms of both the QPS broader organisational role, and the individual officer role with respect to the policing of licensed premises. For the QPS organisational role, participants at all three strategic levels had a high degree of congruity as to the organisations service role; that is, to enhance public safety. With respect to participants’ beliefs as to whether police officers have knowledge and understanding of their individual roles concerning licensed premises (as opposed to the QPS role), participants reported most commonly that officers had a reasonable to clear understanding of their role. Participant comments also were supportive of the view that officers operating in the research area, Brisbane Central District (BCD), had a clearer understanding of their role than police operating in other locations. The second key theme to emerge identified a disparity between the knowledge and capability of specialist police, compared with general duties police, to police licensed premises. In fact, a number of the responses to a variety of questions differentiated specialist and general police in a range of domains. One such example related to the clarity of understanding of officer role. Participants agreed that specialist police (Liquor Enforcement & Proactive Strategies [LEAPS] officers) had more clarity of understanding in terms of their role than generalist police. Participants also were strongly of the opinion that specialist police had higher skill levels to deal with issues both inside and outside licensed premises. Some participants expressed the view that general duty police undertook purely response-related activities, or alternatively, dealt with lower order matters. Conversely, it was viewed that specialist police undertook more complex tasks because of their higher levels of knowledge and skill. The third key theme to emerge concerned the identification of barriers that serve to restrict or prevent police officers from policing licensed premises. Participant responses strongly indicated that there was a diversity of resourcing barriers that restrict police from undertaking their roles in licensed premises. Examples of such barriers were the lack of police and the low ratio of police to patrons, available officer time, and lack of organisational investment in skills and knowledge acquisition. However, some participants indicated that police resourcing in the BCD was appropriate and officers were equipped with sufficient powers (policy and legislation). Again, the issue of specialist police was raised by one participant who argued that increasing the numbers of specialist police would ameliorate the difficulties for police officers policing licensed premises. The fourth and last key theme to emerge from Study Two related to the perception of senior officers regarding the opportunity and capability of officers to leverage off external partnerships to reduce harms inside and outside licensed premises. Police working in partnership in BCD was seen as an effective harm reduction strategy and strongly supported by the participants. All participants demonstrated a high degree of knowledge as to who these partners were and could identify those government, non-government and community groups precisely. Furthermore, the majority of participants also held strong views that the partnerships were reasonably effective and worked to varying degrees depending on the nature of the partnership and issues such as resourcing. These senior officers identified better communication and coordination as factors that could potentially strengthen these partnerships. This research finding is particularly important for senior officers who have the capacity to shape the policy and strategic direction of the police service, not only in Queensland but throughout Australasia. Study Three examined the perceptions of those with links to the broader liquor industry (government, non-government and community but exclusive of police) concerning their understanding of the police role and the capacity of police to reduce alcohol-related harm inside and outside licensed premises, and their attitudes towards police. Participants (n=26) surveyed represented a range of areas including the liquor industry, business represenatives and government representatives from Queensland Fire and Rescue Service, Queensland Ambulance Service, Brisbane City Council and Queensland Health. The first key theme to emerge from Study Three related to participant understanding of the QPS organisational role, and importantly, individual officer role in policing licensed premises. In terms of participant understanding of the QPS role there was a clear understanding by the majority of participants that the police role was to act in ways consistent with the law and to otherwise engage in a range of enforcement-related activities. Participants saw such activities falling into two categories. The first category related to reactive policing, which included actions around responding to trouble in licensed premises, monitoring crowd controllers and removing trouble-makers. In the second category, proactive approaches, participants identified the following activities as consistent with that approach: early intervention with offenders, support of licensed premises operators and high visibility policing. When participants were asked about their understanding of individual officer roles in the policing of licensed premises, a range of responses were received but the consistent message that emerged was that there is a different role to be played by general duty (uniformed) police compared to specialist (LEAPS Unit) police, which reflects differences in knowledge, skill and capability. The second key theme that emerged from the data related to the external participants’ views of the knowledge and capability of specialist police, compared with general duty police, to police licensed premises. As noted in the first key theme, participants were universally of the view that the knowledge, skill and capability of police in specialist units (LEAPS Unit) was at a higher level than that of general duty police. Participants observed that these specialist officers were better trained than their colleagues in generalist areas and were therefore better able to intervene knowledgeably and authoritatively to deal with problems and issues as they emerged. Participants also reported that officers working within BCD generally had a positive attitude to their duties and had important local knowledge that they could use in the resolution of alcohol-related issues. Participants also commented on the importance of sound and effective QPS leadership, as well as the quality of the leadership in BCD. On both these measures, there was general consensus from participants, who reported positively on the importance and effectiveness of such leadership in BCD. The third key theme to emerge from Study Three concerned the identification of barriers that serve to restrict or prevent police officers from policing licensed premises. Overwhelmingly, external participants reported the lack of human resources (i.e. police officers) as the key barrier. Other resourcing limitations, such as available officer time, police computer systems, and the time taken to charge offenders, were identified as barriers. Some participants identified barriers in the liquor industry such as ‘dodgy operators’ and negative media attention as limitations. Other constraints to emerge related to government and policy barriers. These were reflected in comments about the collection by government of fees from licensees and better ‘powers’ for police to deal with offenders. The fourth and final key theme that emerged from Study Three related to the opportunities for and capability of police to leverage off external partnerships to reduce harms inside and outside licensed premises. Not surprisingly, participants had a comprehensive knowledge of a broad range of stakeholders, from a diversity of contexts, influential in addressing issues in licensed premises. Many participants reported their relationships with the police and other stakeholders as effective, productive and consistent with the objectives of partnering to reduce alcohol-related harm. On the other hand, there were those who were concerned with their relationship with other stakeholders, particularly those with a compliance function (e.g. Office of Liquor & Gaming Regulation [OLGR]). The resourcing limitations of partners and stakeholders were also raised as an important constraining factor in fulfilling the optimum relationship. Again, political issues were mentioned in terms of the impact on partnerships, with participants stating that there is at times political interference and that politicians complicate the relationships of stakeholders. There are some significant strengths with respect to the methodology of this research. The research is distinguished from previous work in that it examines these critical issues from three distinct perspectives (i.e. police officer, senior manager and external stakeholder). Other strengths relate to the strong theoretical framework that guides and informs the research. There are also some identified limitations, including the subjective nature of self-report data as well as the potential for bias by the author, which was controlled for using a range of initiatives. A further limitation concerns the potential for transferability and generalisability of the findings to other locations given the distinctive nature of the BCD. These limitations and issues of transferability are dealt with at length in the thesis. Despite a growing body of literature about contextual harms associated with alcohol, and specific research concerning police intervention in such contextual harms, there is still much to learn. While research on the subject of police engaging in alcohol-related incidents has focused on police behaviours and strategies in response to such issues, there is a paucity of research that focuses on the knowledge and understanding of officers engaged in such behaviours and practices. Given the scarcity of research dealing with the knowledge, skills and attitudes of police officers responding to harms inside and outside licensed premises, this research contributes significantly to what is a recent and growing body of research and literature in the field. The research makes a practical contribution to police agencies’ understanding of officer knowledge and police practice in ways that have the potential to shape education and training agendas, policy approaches around generalist versus specialist policing, strategic and operational strategy, as well as partnership engagements. The research also makes a theoretical contribution given that the research design is informed by the Three Circle

Exploring the ethical implications of the late discovery of adoptive and donor-insemination offspring status

Some children adopted under the now discredited period of closed adoption were never told of their adoptive status until it was revealed to them in adulthood. Yet to date, this ‘late-discovery’ experience has received little research attention. Now a new generation of ‘late discoverers’ is emerging as a result of (heterosexual couple) donor insemination (DI) practices. This study of 25 late-discovery participants of either adoptive or (heterosexual couple) DI offspring status reveals ethical concerns particular to the lateness of discovery. Most of the participants were Australian, with the remainder from the UK, USA and Canada. All were asked to give an ‘open’ account of their experience, with four themes or suggestions provided on request. These accounts were added to those available in relevant publications. The analysis employed a hermeneutic phenomenological methodology and all accounts were analysed using an ethical perspective developed by Walker (2006, 2007). The main themes that emerged were: disrupted personal autonomy, betrayal of deep levels of trust and feelings of injustice and diminished self-worth. The lack of recognition of concerns particular to late discovery has resulted in late discoverers (i) feeling unable to regain a sense of personal control, (ii) significantly disrupted relationships with those closest to them and others, including community and institutions, and (iii) feelings of diminished value and self-worth.

The search for freedom in extreme sports : a phenomenological exploration

Participation in extreme sports is continuing to grow, yet there is still little understanding of participant motivations in such sports. The purpose of this paper is to report on one aspect of motivation in extreme sports, the search for freedom. The study utilized a hermeneutic phenomenological methodology. Fifteen international extreme sport participants who participated in sports such as BASE jumping, big wave surfing, extreme mountaineering, extreme skiing, rope free climbing and waterfall kayaking were interviewed about their experience of participating in an extreme sport. Results reveal six elements of freedom: freedom from constraints, freedom as movement, freedom as letting go of the need for control, freedom as the release of fear, freedom as being at one, and finally freedom as choice and responsibility. The findings reveal that motivations in extreme sport do not simply mirror traditional images of risk taking and adrenaline and that motivations in extreme sports also include an exploration of the ways in which humans seek fundamental human values.

Extreme sports as ecotourism

This paper discusses what can be learned from research on extreme sports that take place in the natural world. An hermeneutic phenomenological method was used where data were gathered from interviews with 15 extreme sports participants and other first hand accounts. The extreme sports included B.A.S.E. jumping, big wave surfing, extreme skiing, waterfall kayaking, extreme mountaineering and solo rope-free climbing. In contrast to theorists who write about the natural world as a resource, battlefield or playground, extreme sports participants speak about developing a relationship with the natural world where humanity is considered to be part of the natural world.