Embodied choreography and performance of gender

Norms of fitting embodied behaviour for males and females, as promoted in Australian public arenas of popular culture and the everyday, disempower and marginalise those not inclined to embody in gendernormative and heteronormative ways.

This thesis engages with concepts of embodiment as meaning the manner of physical deportment in which a physical practice is performed, and with concepts of gender as social constructions of femininity and masculinity. It investigates the demands and implications of dominant norms of gender embodiment for those whose embodied inclinations do not fit comfortably with such dichotomous models. It interrogates gender inequitable machinations of education and performance arts disciplines by which educators and arts practitioners train, teach, choreograph, and direct those with whom they work, and theorises ways of broadening personal and social notions of possible, aesthetic, and acceptable embodiment for all persons, regardless of biological sex or sexual orientation.

This research is grounded in two major qualitative methods of enquiry. First, through an autoethnographic lens, it focuses on the impacts that social constructions of masculinity have on me, both as a person in the everyday and as a performance arts practitioner/educator. Through writing, illustration, choreography, and performance, as well as interviews with 3 members of my family, I analyse the delicacy of the relationship between social control/surveillance and personal agency over my embodiment of gender. Second, through empirical ethnographic fieldwork with some 400 high school students and 160 educators and performance arts practitioners, I utilise a combination of performance, discussion, practical workshop, and avenues for anonymous response to explore the potential of the performance arts in challenging inequitable notions of gender embodiment.

My findings demonstrate that inherent ideologies in dominant discourses regarding the execution and display of feminine and masculine embodiment continue to work, overtly and covertly, as definitive and restrictive barriers to the realm of possibilities of embodied gender expression and appreciation in the everyday and in the performance arts. This thesis recommends drawing individuals’ attention to embodied gender inequities and enculturation processes, not ordinarily critiqued within mainstream society, as a key toward safeguarding the well-being of those whose embodied performance inclination is at odds with prescribed norms of behaviour. Performance arts arenas are powerful sites in which such deconstructive work can occur, both cognitively and practically. However, as this thesis explores and illustrates, performance arts practitioners/educators need to first scrutinise existing and hidden inequities regarding the embodiment of gender within their own habitus, perspectives, taste, and practices.

Radiographic arthrosis after elbow trauma : interobserver reliability

Purpose : This study measured observer variation in radiographic rating of elbow arthrosis.

Methods : Thirty-seven independent orthopedic surgeons graded the extent of elbow arthrosis in 20 consecutive sets of plain radiographs, according to the Broberg and Morrey rating system (grade 0, normal joint; grade 1, slight joint-space narrowing with minimum osteophyte formation; grade 2, moderate joint-space narrowing with moderate osteophyte formation; and grade 3, severe degenerative change with gross destruction of the joint). The kappa multirater measure (κ) was used to estimate reliability between observers, with 0 indicating no agreement above chance, and 1 indicating perfect agreement.

Results : There was fair agreement in arthrosis ratings between surgeons. Surgeons with more than 10 years of experience had greater agreement than did surgeons with less experience, and surgeons who treated more than 10 elbow fractures per year had better agreement than did those treating fewer fractures. In post hoc analyses, 2 simplified binary rating systems (eg, “none or mild” vs “moderate or severe” arthrosis) resulted in moderate agreement among observers.

Conclusions : The 4 grades of the Broberg and Morrey classification system have only fair interobserver reliability that is influenced by subspecialty and experience. Binary rating systems might be more reliable.

Interobserver reliability of coronoid fracture classification : two-dimensional versus three-dimensional computed tomography

Purpose : This study tests the hypothesis that 3-dimensional computed tomography (CT) reconstructions improve interobserver agreement on classification and treatment of coronoid fractures compared with 2-dimensional CT.

Methods : A total of 29 orthopedic surgeons evaluated 10 coronoid fractures on 2 occasions (first with radiographs and 2-dimensional CT and then with radiographs and 3-dimensional CT), separated by a minimum of 2 weeks. Surgeons classified fractures according to the classifications of Regan and Morrey and of O'Driscoll et al., identified specific characteristics, recommended the most appropriate treatment approach, and made treatment recommendations. The kappa multirater measure (κ) was calculated to estimate agreement between observers.

Results : Regardless of the imaging modality used, there was fair to moderate agreement for most of the observations. Three-dimensional CT improved interobserver agreement in Regan and Morrey's classsication (κ3-dimensional = 0.51 vs κ2-dimensional = 0.40; p < .001) and O'Driscoll et al.'s classifications (κ3-dimensional = 0.48 vs κ2-dimensional = 0.42; p = .009). There were trends toward better reliability for 3-dimensional reconstruction in recognition of coronoid tip fractures (κ3-dimensional = 0.19, κ2-dimensional = 0.03; p = .268), comminution (κ3-dimensional = 0.41 vs κ2-dimensional = 0.29; p = .133), and impacted fragments (κ3-dimensional = 0.39 vs κ2-dimensional = 0.27; p = .094), and in surgeons' opinions on the need for something other than screws or plate for surgical fixation (κ3-dimensional = 0.31 vs κ2-dimensional = 0.15; p = .138). Interobserver agreement on treatment approach was better with 2-dimensional CT (κ3-dimensional = 0.27, κ2-dimensional = 0.32; p = .015).

Conclusions : Three-dimensional CT reconstructions improve interobserver agreement with respect to fracture classification compared with 2-dimensional CT.

Telescope

Telescope is a feature length time lapse of reflections, changes in sunlight of my backyard, assembled over 20 years. Telescope starts in Super 8 and ends with digital video, shot mostly while the family were themselves at work, somewhere else. It is an emptied landscape. When people think of Australia they imagine open space and bush. But really most Australians inhabit or were born in suburban spaces, often with backyards with fences, big enough for fruit trees, lawns and clotheslines. I consider this a place of absence that speaks to many things that our culture avoids.The backyard as emblem of a White Australia that hit its highpoint in the 1950s, for example. Australia is a migrant culture settled by waves of newcomers escaping, running away from somewhere else, leaving to forget. Another story concerns the continued invisibility of the indigenous people. When the British first planted the Union Jack on Australian soil and said "there is nothing here" they set up a tradition of denial as our founding principle. This still plagues us. What is festering in Australian backyards are these denials and erasures that I try to bring out in the soundtrack, that plays like the radio that meanders through a lazy Sunday afternoon. Such sounds try to tell stories of absence, of occupation, and of a nostalgia for an Australia that no longer exists, but still palpably reverberates around the suburban backyard.

A VMD plugin for NAMD simulations on Amazon EC2

VMD and NAMD are two major molecular dynamics simulation software packages, which can work together for mining structural information of bio-molecules. Carrying out such molecular dynamics simulations can help researchers to understand the roles and functions of various bio-molecules in life science research. Recently, clouds have provided HPC clusters on demand that allow users to benefit from their flexibility, elasticity, and lower costs. Although cloud computing promises to provide seamless access to HPC clusters through the abstraction of services, which hide the details of the underlying software and hardware infrastructure, users without in depth computing knowledge are still forced to cope with many low level system and programming details. Therefore, we have designed and developed a software plugin of VMD, which can provide an integrated framework for NAMD to be executed on Amazon EC2. The proposed Amazon EC2 Plugin for VMD frees users from performing many tedious computing tasks such as launching, connecting and terminating Amazon EC2 compute instances; configuring a HPC cluster; and installing middleware and software applications before the system is readily available for any scientific investigation. This allows VMD/NAMD users to spend less time getting applications to work on HPC clusters but more time for bio-research.

Glassimations

Glassimations, an exhibition of contemporary Australian artworks that bridge the materials of glass and animation to produce works with qualities that are unique to these two mediums and yet create a dialogue between them. The exhibition includes the work of a variety of artists. Lee Whitmore paints on glass to achieve an animated image that metamorphs with its own unique movement; Tom Moore animates his blown glass creations into their own world; Deirdre Feeney animates onto her glass architectural forms to produce places of light that condense time and are full of intangible narrative; Mark Eliott and Jack McGrath collaborate to bring their understanding and skills of glass and animation together, creating works that are founded in the production processes of both materials; and Lienors Torre and Alastair Boell collaborate to create animated films that become objects of glass and furniture, able to occupy real spaces in our domestic lives.

Introduction

An introduction to the theories of International Relations

Understanding the contexts of adolescent female participation in sport and physical activity

Purpose: Participation in physical activity (PA) is reported to decline in adolescence, particularly for girls. However, we do not know if this decline in PA is consistent across modes and settings or whether there are transfers of participation between modes and settings. Nor do we understand the changes in specific types of PA or the interaction between types of participation and different modes/settings. This study investigated contexts of PA participation for female adolescents at two life transition points.

Method: A survey of 489 Year 7 and 243 Year 11 adolescent girls was conducted, incorporating a measure of overall PA level and participation rates in seven modes/settings and in specific types of sport and PA.

Results: Less than half of the respondents met or exceeded the recommended level of moderate or vigorous PA—60 min or more—on the previous day, and there was no statistically significant difference in the proportions in Years 7 and 11 (39.5% vs. 45.9%; p>.05). However, older adolescents shifted their participation away from organized, competitive modes and settings toward nonorganized and noncompetitive modes and settings and individual types of PA.

Conclusions: An understanding of the changes in PA modes and settings identified here can inform the planning of policies and implementation of programs for the promotion of PA by adolescent girls.