Tracing the influence of non-narrative film and expanded cinema sound on experimental music

This study surveys and interrogates key conceptual frameworks and artistic practises that flow through the distinct but interconnected traditions of non-narrative film and experimental music, and examines how these are articulated in my own creative sound practise.

Empathy : narrative empathy and children's literature

The term empathy has only existed in English for a little over a hundred years, but the idea of feeling with another person is an old one. Because of its perceived connection to moral behaviour, empathy and its development are of great interest to educators, policy makers, psychologists, and philosophers. Reading children’s literature is often considered important for developing (among other things) children’s ethical and empathic understandings of society and its people. However, claims as to the impact of reading on readers’ ability to become more empathic, tolerant, and better people are divided. While many readers may attribute positive influences that authors and texts have had on shaping their attitudes and actions, there is no guarantee that a desirable affective and cognitive response will follow the reading experience. The complexity of readers and texts refuses to be reduced to simple universal statements about the capacity of narrative empathy to create a particular kind of empathic reader or person: fiction that engages a reader with the emotional plight of a character does not necessarily translate into actions in the real world towards people who are similarly suffering, marginalized, or victimized. This chapter asks: Does children’s literature foster empathy? There are two implicit features of this question: one concerns narrative empathy; the other concerns empathic reader response. The discussion will focus on how a selection of ‘multicultural’ picture books attempts to create narrative empathy by focussing on cultural and spatial differences.

User expertise in contemporary information systems : conceptualization, measurement and application

The development of user expertise is a strategic imperative for organizations in hyper-competitive markets. This paper conceptualizes opreationalises and validates user expertise in contemporary Information Systems (IS) as a formative, multidimensional index. Such a validated and widely accepted index would facilitate progression of past research on user competence and efficacy of IS to complex contemporary IS, while at the same time providing a benchmark for organizations to track their user expertise. The validation involved three separate studies, including exploratory and confirmatory phases, using data from 244 respondents.

Malnutrition in the elderly : a narrative review

The focus of nutrition is often on healthy diets and exercise to minimise the risk of developing lifestyle diseases such as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. However, during the shift into older years often the nutrition priorities change towards meeting increased nutrient needs with less energy requirements and minimising lean muscle loss. There are several causes of general malnutrition in the elderly that lead to depletion of muscle including starvation (protein-energy malnutrition), sarcopenia and cachexia. The prevalence of protein-energy malnutrition increases with age and the number of comorbidities. A range of simple and validated screening tools can be used to identify malnutrition in older adults e.g. MST, MNA-SF and ‘MUST’. Older adults should be screened for nutritional issues at diagnosis, on admission to hospitals or care homes and during follow up at outpatient or General Practitioner clinics, at regular intervals depending on clinical status. Early identification and treatment of nutrition problems can lead to improved outcomes and better quality of life.

Contemporary Australian masculinities and De Certeau’s concept of la perruqe in Christos Tsiolkas’ novel The Slap (2008)

This paper will focus on how Christos Tsiolkas the author of The Slap (2008) invites us to view the complex range of private lives of his male characters living in suburban Melbourne through their daily routines, conversations and innermost thoughts. On the surface most appear to be participating in and achieving a certain level of success in their lives. However, this novel reveals when we agitate and dig below the “practices of everyday life” there is often a disquiet simmering away under the facade of family harmony, male bravado and contentment. This paper will argue that as a result of dissatisfaction with the established order of their lives, each man has managed to create another level of meaning for himself, his own form of la perruque (De Certeau 2011: 29),the concept of living proposed by Michel De Certeau. A treatment of the characters in this article draws on, and is used to illustrate the paradigm.

Iron nodules in ferric soils of the Fraser Coast, Australia : relicts of laterisation or features of contemporary weathering and pedogenesis?

The genesis of ferruginous nodules and pisoliths in soils and weathering profiles of coastal southern and eastern Australia has long been debated. It is not clear whether iron (Fe) nodules are redox accumulations, residues of Miocene laterite duricrust, or the products of contemporary weathering of Fe-rich sedimentary rocks. This study combines a catchment-wide survey of Fe nodule distribution in Poona Creek catchment (Fraser Coast, Queensland) with detailed investigations of a representative ferric soil profile to show that Fe nodules are derived from Fe-rich sandstones. Where these crop out, they are broken down, transported downslope by colluvial processes, and redeposited. Chemical and physical weathering transforms these eroded rock fragments into non-magnetic Fe nodules. Major features of this transformation include lower hematite/goethite and kaolinite/gibbsite ratios, increased porosity, etching of quartz grains, and development of rounded morphology and a smooth outer cortex. Iron nodules are commonly concentrated in ferric horizons. We show that these horizons form as the result of differential biological mixing of the soil. Bioturbation gradually buries nodules and rock fragments deposited at the surface of the soil, resulting in a largely nodule-free 'biomantle' over a ferric 'stone line'. Maghemite-rich magnetic nodules are a prominent feature of the upper half of the profile. These are most likely formed by the thermal alteration of non-magnetic nodules located at the top of the profile during severe bushfires. They are subsequently redistributed through the soil profile by bioturbation. Iron nodules occurring in the study area are products of contemporary weathering of Fe-rich rock units. They are not laterite duricrust residues nor are they redox accumulations, although redox-controlled dissolution/re-precipitation is an important component of post-depositional modification of these Fe nodules.

Re-orientations : East Asian popular cultures in contemporary Vietnam

Vietnamese-Australians live in Australia, a large island continent. The physical contrast between Vietnam and Australia is remarked upon by many Vietnamese in their migration stories. Whereas Vietnam is remembered as an interlinked sensual and social world, Australia is often viewed as a harsh, spacious, empty, dry continent. Australia is located in a regional Asian context, but this location has always been culturally and politically problematic, as it historically attempted to define itself as a "white" European nation in the Southern Hemisphere (Ang, 2000, p. xiii; McNamara & Coughlan, 1997, p. 1). During the Gold Rush period in the late 1800s, when there was widespread opposition to Chinese labor, Australia implemented a "White Australia" policy, although there were historically a significant number of Australians of Asian background. This exclusionary immigration policy was effectively overturned in the 1970s with the acceptance of a large number of refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in 1975. Vietnamese-Australians live predominantly in urban areas with over three quarters living in Sydney and Melbourne, the two largest cities. Within these two cities they are also highly concentrated in ethnically diverse suburbs, most living in areas with more than 1,000 residents born in Vietnam (Viviani, 1996, p. 49). However, Jupp (Jupp et al., 1990; Jupp, 1993) has argued that these areas are also zones of transition, with much movement in and out.

Contemporary actor training in Australia

This professional doctorate included a major research project investigating the efficacy of acting methodologies taught at four leading Australian actor-training institutions - National Institute of Dramatic Art, Queensland University of Technology, Victorian College of the Arts, and Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. This study represents the first review of its kind, in which the 'castability' of acting graduates from each of these schools was scrutinized by industry leaders. The study not only reveals the methodologies and philosophies of each school but determines an ideal set of practices for future consideration. The doctorate also included two practice-led projects examining the candidate's transition from actor and teacher of actors to theatre director. The candidate's qualitative study was also underpinned by reflective practice on her extensive professional experience as actor, teacher and director.

Public spaces/public disgraces : crowds and the state in contemporary Vietnam

This article argues that a semantic shift in the crowd in Vietnam over the last decade has allowed public space to become a site through which transgressive ideologies and desires may have an outlet. At a time of accelerating social change, the state has effectively delimited public criticism yet a fragile but assertive form of Vietnamese democratic practice has arisen in public space, at the margins of official society, in sites previously equated with state control. Official state functions attract only small audiences, and rather than celebrating the dominance of the party, reveal the disengagement of the populace in the party's activities. Where crowds were always a component of state (stage)-managed events, now public spaces are attracting large numbers of people for supposedly non-political activities which may become transgressive acts condemned by the regime. In support of the notion that crowding is an opening up of the possibility of more subversive political actions, the paper presents an analysis of recent crowd formations and the state's reaction to them. The analysis reveals the modalities through which popular culture has provided the public with the means to transcend the constraints of official, authorized, and legitimate codes of behaviour in public space. Changes in the use of public space, it is argued, map the sets of relations between the public and the state, making these transforming relationships visible, although fraught with contradictions and anomalies.

User expertise in contemporary information systems : conceptualization, measurement and application

This research proposes a method for identifying user expertise in contemporary Information Systems (IS). It also proposes and develops a model for evaluating expertise. The aim of this study was to offer a common instrument that addresses the requirements of a contemporary Information System in a holistic way. This study demonstrates the application of the expertise construct in Information System evaluations, and shows that users of different expertise levels evaluate systems differently.

Destination marketing organizations and destination marketing : a narrative analysis of the literature

This article presents the first narrative analysis of the areas of research that have developed within the destination marketing field since its commencement in 1973. Given the broad extent of the field, and the absence of any previous reviews in four decades, a key challenge is in providing a focus for such a disparate body of knowledge. The review is structured around one principal question: ‘To what extent is the Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO) responsible for the competitiveness of the destination’? In pursuit of this underlying question, we address a number of themes including nomenclature and the DMO, the evolution of the destination marketing literature, competitiveness as the DMO reason d’être, and DMO effectiveness including issues of branding and positioning, and future research themes in the field.

Governing drug use among young people : crime, harm and contemporary drug use practices

Taking an empirical, critical approach to the problem of drugs, this thesis explores the interaction of drug policies and young people's drug use in Brisbane. The research argues that criminalising drug users does not usually prevent harmful drug use, but it can exacerbate harm and change how young people use drugs. Contemporary understandings of drug use as either recreational or addictive can create a false binary, and influence how illicit drugs are used. These understandings interact with policy responses to the drug problem, with some very real implications for the lived experiences of drug users. This research opens up possibilities for new directions in drug research and allows for a redefinition of drug related harm.

Looking into the light : reinventing the apparatus in contemporary art

Technical images such as photography, film and video, are dependent on apparatuses for their production and dissemination, yet the apparatus itself is often hidden or obscured in the experience of the work and the discourse that surrounds it. This practice-led research identifies key practice strategies to foreground the apparatus both in the production of work and in its presentation. It therefore develops critical and generative strategies to explore and interrogate the workings of the 'apparatus-audience complex,' and the particular modes of spectatorship that this entails.

Contemporary research on parenting: conceptual, methodological, and translational issues.

Researchers over the last decade have documented the association between general parenting style and numerous factors related to childhood obesity (e.g., children's eating behaviors, physical activity, and weight status). Many recent childhood obesity prevention programs are family focused and designed to modify parenting behaviors thought to contribute to childhood obesity risk. This article presents a brief consideration of conceptual, methodological, and translational issues that can inform future research on the role of parenting in childhood obesity. They include: (1) General versus domain specific parenting styles and practices; (2) the role of ethnicity and culture; (3) assessing bidirectional influences; (4) broadening assessments beyond the immediate family; (5) novel approaches to parenting measurement, and; (6) designing effective interventions. Numerous directions for future research are offered.