http://hdl.handle.net/10453/20443 2026-04-05T22:48:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10453/131053 Title: Examining the social construction of childbirth in Australia : the politics of power Authors: Coddington, Rebecca Lauren Abstract: Background: In 2008, a national review of maternity services was commissioned by the Australian Government. A number of significant reforms to the funding, organisation and delivery of maternity services were proposed with the stated intention of improving women’s access to high quality, safe maternity services. A community consultation process was undertaken as part of The Review, inviting interested parties to comment on the proposed reforms. Over 900 individuals and professional organisations responded. Aim: The aim of this study was to uncover the perceptions, beliefs and meanings associated with childbirth held by the key stakeholders in Australian maternity care. Methods: Discourse analysis was chosen as the methodology for this project as it enabled examination of the unspoken or hidden messages in the data, paying particular attention to the construction of childbirth and the manifestation of power relations. The data set comprised of 11 submissions from peak professional and consumer bodies to the National Maternity Services Review (MSR). Findings: The expression of, or desire for, power and control was found to be the major discourse underpinning all of the submissions analysed. In the context of maternity service reform, this discourse confirmed the existence of fundamentally different constructions of childbirth by the key stakeholders. This resulted in diverse opinions on how maternity services should be managed and operationalised. A discourse of risk and safety was used by the peak medical bodies to argue against the majority of proposed reforms. In contrast, peak nursing, midwifery and consumer groups used language that constructed childbirth as a normal life event. As such, submissions from midwifery, nursing and consumer groups demonstrated strong support for the Government’s reform agenda, arguing for a new vision for the future of maternity care that placed the childbearing woman at the centre of care. Discussion: A clash of ideologies was evident amongst the key stakeholders in Australian maternity care. The fundamentally different constructions of childbirth possessed by obstetricians and midwives (supported by nurses and consumers) support the notion of ‘turf wars’ in the maternity care system. Whilst midwives and obstetricians already work together collaboratively, it appears that their interactions are often underpinned by the ‘politics of power’. The findings of this research raise important issues around power and control in childbearing. They raise questions about women’s right to have control over their bodies in childbirth – including decisions about their most suitable care provider, model of care and intended place of birth. As long as the struggle for power underlines the actions of care providers, women will not truly be at the centre of maternity care. Conclusion: Understanding the different ideologies inherent in the professional and public discourses of childbirth provides insight into how each party can work together more effectively to ensure the delivery of high quality maternity services for Australian women. The encouragement of professional courtesy in practice would go some way in ameliorating the ‘politics of power’ that underpin maternity care providers’ interactions. Changes to the way medical and midwifery students are educated, including greater exposure to normal birth, is required. Further research into the socio-cultural meanings associated with birth is warranted as developing greater awareness of the different constructions of childbirth supports harmonious relationships between maternity care providers. Description: University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Health. 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10453/121810 Title: Evaluating the use of EiPE and the development of a domain-specific language for the novice programmer Authors: Pelchen, Thomas Albert Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to identify whether the language used by a novice when responding to an Explain in Plain English question can be used to identify their current transition to the expert. This paper will involve the analysis of the results and responses from a cohort that undertook their final examination for an introductory programming subject (CS1). When the responses to the Explain in Plain English questions have been categorised to the SOLO taxonomy and given a mark accordingly, prior research has shown that the transition of a novice to the expert is evident by said mark. This paper presents an alternate way the Explain in Plain English questions can be used to identify the transition of the novice: that the transition is evident through the language used by the novice in their response. This paper also addresses the concerns educators may have over the suitability of the Explain in Plain English question as an examination method. Firstly, by showing that as the marks received for the Explain in Plain English will correlate to marks for the traditional examination methods; that when included, the Explain in Plain English questions will not skew the marks of the cohort. Secondly, by showing that the ability to answer an Explain in Plain English question is not dependent on the English language proficiency of the student; educators can be assured that level of English language proficiency required to answer these questions is no greater than what was required for admission into their course. This paper confirms the findings of previous research regarding the relationship between tracing, reading and writing code. That a skill in tracing is a pre-requisite to the abilities of reading and writing code, a relationship that is more apparent through nonparametric tests. It also extends these findings by using both a larger test population (in a single institution) and providing a Phi-coefficient value for identifying the direction of this relationship, a statistic missing in the previous tests. To identify whether the language used within the answers to the Explain in Plain English questions can be used to identify a novice’s current transition to the expert programmer, this paper considered two possible indicators: (1) The first unsuccessfully looked at direct and indirect tautological reference of the question in the words of the answers, finding that a tautological response is not apparent in the responses of this cohort; (2) The second found strong evidence within the responses for a domain-specific language. The use of this domain-specific language correlated strongly with the total mark received for the Explain in Plain English questions; a mark which prior research has shown to be an indication of the current transition of a novice. The paper concludes with the discussion of ways to further explore the findings of this paper, noting the possible benefits that the analysis of the domain-specific language used by a novice may bring. Description: University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology. 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10453/64600 Title: Development of hydroculture plants for the improvement of indoor air quality Authors: Irga, Peter Jacob Abstract: Tissue-cultured plants (Syngonium podophyllum) planted into conventional potting mix and hydroculture were investigated for their capacities to bring about reductions of the two major types of indoor air pollution; volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and CO₂. The results confirm that, with a moderate increase in indoor light intensity, the species used could be developed and used to remove significant amounts of indoor CO₂. The results also indicate that hydroculture as a growth medium makes for greater efficacy of CO₂ removal than potting mix. Furthermore, the VOC removing potential of hydroculture plants was demonstrated. Whilst the rate of VOC removal was somewhat slower than plants grown in traditional potting mix, the simultaneous capacity of the system for effective CO₂ removal is evidence that hydroculture is a more effective system for functional indoor plants than the potting mix systems that are used now. An examination was also made of the possibility of bioaugmentation with both rhizosphere bacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to improve the performance of the hydroculture plants to improve growth and remove more VOCs, while maintaining a lower microbial load than potting mix, so as to reduce soil CO₂ emissions, however, the efforts trialled here in this species were unsuccessful. The effect of benzene on the community level physiological profiles of rhizospheric bacteria of hydroculture plants was assessed. Whilst the bacterial community present in hydroculture was reduced in diversity compared to potting mix, the species present encompassed at least some of those involved with VOC removal, thus indicating that hydroculture plants should still be an effective means of reducing indoor VOC concentrations. A qualitative screen for pathogenic fungal spores from plants grown both in hydroculture and potting mix showed the nutrient solution and supporting media did not harbour any pathogenic fungi and are thus unlikely to pose a major health risk. Description: University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Science. 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10453/43348 Title: Development of parallel coordinates using D3 for hybrid reality environments : visualising acute lymphoblastic leukaemia data Authors: Crome, Samantha Irene Lassere Abstract: Visualisation is the process of creating a visual representation of data. Visualisation is a tool that assists the analysis of data, the finding of patterns and meaning, the exploration of relationships and the development of hypotheses. Increasing amounts of medical data are being captured systematically as part of routine clinical care. In addition, medical research is identifying new biomarkers of disease diagnosis, prognosis and response to treatment such as gene expression profiles. Visualisation of biomedical data can assist in finding patterns in a particular disease to optimise treatment and prognosis. This is important, for example, for cancer patients, in which the opportunity of personalised treatment can make a large difference in the probability of a cure or remission. The primary objective of this research is to develop code to extend the 2D visualisation functionality of a newly built Data Arena (a CAVE-like Hybrid Reality Environment) by enabling a parallel co-ordinates data visualisation tool. This data visualisation tool will be used to evaluate multivariate high dimensional biomedical data of children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, with the aim of developing better predictive risk stratification models to guide therapeutic decisions, which in turn, may reduce comorbidity and improve survival. Visualisation is an established exploratory tool for use with multivariate high dimensional data. It could be used in computer generated virtual environments. Virtual environments are three-dimensional computer generated environments that simulate sensory information. A recent technology is Hybrid Reality Environments (HREs) which combine the immersion of CAVE with the high resolution of large ultra-resolution displays. HREs are promising for the analysis of complex data. The University of Technology Sydney has built a CAVE-like HRE called the Data Arena. There are many visualisation libraries that could be integrated into the Data Arena for data visualisation tools. D3, a JavaScript library, has several components which improve interoperability, documentation, expressiveness, compatibility, and performance. D3 can also create Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) images, which is useful when performing interactions of the images and rendering. Of the many multivariate data visualisations tools that could be used to explore the relationships within the acute lymphoblastic leukaemia data using D3 in the Data Arena, parallel coordinates has been shown to be useful because of its ability to find patterns and exceptions. There are two aims for this thesis. The first aim is to demonstrate that parallel coordinates visualisation of a paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia dataset can be implemented in the Data Arena. A secondary, minor aim is to be able to implement other 2D multidimensional visualisations in the Data Arena. Through iterative development and evaluation two potential solutions emerged. The first solution is to use the WebView Omegalib module and use it to view a webpage containing a D3 parallel coordinates visualisation. Omegalib is the application framework used in the Data Arena. This solution has the benefit of having easy interaction, but is heavily dependent on the progress of the module for increase in quality. The second proposed solution is a work in progress proof of concept. It uses an XML parser to parse an SVG created using the D3 library that is first extracted by the user for a webpage using D3. By analysing the parsed elements, the elements are translated into an Omegalib Cyclops module objects. An evaluation of these two solutions demonstrates that the first aim of the thesis is successful, however the second aim is not fulfilled. The parallel coordinates visualisations of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia data perform well in the Data Arena passing all test cases. The WebView solution succeeds in adapting some other types of 2D visualisations from external sources, but fails to visualise others. Additionally, as the SVG Parser solution is in the proof of concept stage there is still development needed to make it truly adaptable, but the potential is there. Overall, the thesis benefited the acute lymphoblastic leukaemia project by demonstrating that acute lymphoblastic leukaemia data can be visualised using parallel coordinates in the Data Arena with high quality and interactivity. Additionally, it assisted Data Arena developers because the process of using Omegalib and communicating with the developers gave feedback and identified some difficulties with Omegalib. Description: University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology. 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z