Open Access Theses

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/1885/3

To view all theses in this collection, select one of the 'Browse by' options (Issue Date, Author, Title, Subject, Title or Type (of thesis). You can also enter your keyword/s into the text box above and click on Search.

ANU theses are harvested by the National Library of Australia's Trove service and other search engines, making them fully discoverable online.

Find Australian theses.
Full instructions available here

Submit your thesis (Approved ANU research theses only)

Please note: The Abstracts displayed in item metadata are in many cases truncated. For the full Abstracts, see the thesis document files.

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 16271

Open Access
Epidemiological investigation of diseases of public health importance in Victoria, Australia / Alicia Arnott.
(2017-07) Arnott, Alicia
In this thesis, I present the projects and activities I have undertaken as a Master of Philosophy in Applied Epidemiology (MAE) Scholar in Victoria between February 2015 and September 2016. I was placed with the Communicable Disease Epidemiology and Surveillance (CDES) Unit at the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services, and the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL) Epidemiology Unit. Through these placements I experienced the day-to-day activities of a state public health unit as well as an applied public health research environment. I conducted a cohort study to identify the source of a large, highly publicised outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium at a five-star hotel in Melbourne, which was identified as raw-egg mayonnaise used in sandwich fillings served at a High Tea. For my data analysis project, I investigated the epidemiology of legionellosis in Victoria between 2000 and 2015 to determine whether the ubiquity of the Legionella pneumophila specific urinary antigen test is creating an 'epidemiological blind spot' for non - Legionella pneumophila infections. I found that whilst this method was ubiquitous prior to and during the study period, the rate of infection with non-Legionella pneumophila species did not decline in parallel as expected if urinary antigen testing routinely precluded their detection. I evaluated the complex Victorian influenza surveillance system, which involved analysis of data captured by the system from 2005 - 2014. As a whole, the system was found to perform well and the data collected were used to inform public health activities. Geographic representativeness of syndromic ILI data was high, demonstrating its utility as a surveillance tool, and the widespread uptake of molecular diagnostic testing enhanced overall system sensitivity, timeliness and flexibility. In addition, the data collected enabled robust estimates of seasonal vaccine effectiveness to be determined which informs local public health action and global vaccine development. However, important deficiencies that prevent the system from achieving a number of its objectives were identified. Most importantly, the ability of the current system to guide planning and implementation of policy and to detect and control outbreaks is limited, and laboratory testing denominator data are not available to facilitate interpretation of seasonal trends and true influenza incidence. My epidemiological project was an analysis of whether registering with Spleen Australia [formerly the Victorian Spleen Registry (VSR)], which provides education, clinical guidance and health promotion reminders, reduces the incidence of overwhelming post splenectomy infection amongst Victorian registrants without a spleen. By conducting a survival analysis, I found that VSR registration was indeed associated with a highly significant (p<0.001) 88% reduction in the incidence of severe infection amongst splenectomised registrants. Finally, I present two teaching activities conducted during my MAE: a session on how to conduct outbreak investigation interviews and a lesson from the field highlighting the utility and pitfalls of culture-independent diagnostic testing when investigating an outbreak of Shigella. This thesis provides an account of my MAE experience, fulfills the requirements of the program and outlines the contribution my work has made to public health in Victoria.
Open Access
The ecology and conservation of southern squirrel glider populations in agricultural landscapes / Mason James Crane.
(2016-04) Crane, Mason James
Much of the world's terrestrial environment is transformed by human activities, particularly agriculture. Within these anthropogenic landscapes some wildlife persists but, with varying degrees of success. Increasingly, there is a realisation of the importance of natural and seminatural features within agricultural landscapes for biodiversity conservation. For species whose geographical range or habitat preference largely coincides with landscapes transformed by other land uses, understanding key habitats, how they are used, and the threats posed to these habitats is essential. This work focuses on the southern population of the squirrel glider Petaurus norfolcensis, a genetically distinct subpopulation with a geographic range that largely coincides with the sheep/wheat belt of eastern Australia. This thesis explores the use of relictual and seminatural habitats of the species in highly modified agricultural landscapes, via radio-tracking collared individuals. The research aims to examine key habitats and their use, and to close some of the knowledge gaps relating to their ecology and conservation. I describe crucial denning and feeding habitats of the species. Detailed field measurements and logistic regression models were used to identify key physical characteristics of these habitats and their biophysical context. Large, healthy Eucalyptus trees were significant in all models. Gliders used numerous den sites, often sharing with other individuals. Den tree selection was often associated with the location of nocturnal activity, indicating the role of den trees in facilitating efficient foraging. The majority of nocturnal activity took place in the canopy of Eucalyptus trees, with a strong preference for those trees in flower. In the absence of flowering, gliders focused their feeding activity in Eucalyptus trees close to drainage lines. These results highlight the importance of habitats in different parts of the landscape and of maintaining connectivity across them, but particularly, the importance of the mesic parts of the landscape in sustaining populations between flowering events. Gliders used four distinct countryside elements: linear roadside remnants, native vegetation patches (typically on travelling stock reserves), native tree plantings, and scattered trees. Gliders were found to survive entirely within these four elements, with some individuals able to persist in just one element (with the exception of native tree plantings). I demonstrate that the relative habitat value of each element varied, evident from the preferential selection of elements and the impact of their availability on home range size. Scattered trees had a disproportionately high value when compared to other countryside elements. My thesis presents new knowledge of key habitats of the squirrel glider, their use and threats (including a detailed examination of the threat of wildfire on scattered trees). This information has direct conservation implications for the species and adds to the broader discussion on conservation in agricultural landscapes. The thesis is concluded with a synthesis of the new and existing knowledge of southern squirrel gliders and an assessment of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, apparent in the conservation efforts for the species. I recommend ten points of action to improve the conservation outcomes of the southern squirrel glider population.
Open Access
Journey to excellence : characteristics of sustainable elite athlete organisations / Clive Joseph Stephens.
(2015-07) Stephens, Clive
In the past, management of elite athletes has focused on a coach-athlete (CA) relationship model. More recently, there has been a shift in thinking, to accommodate inputs from the multidisciplines of science, medicine and technology. To better understand the effect of the expanding resources, relationships and networks in elite athlete management, this thesis develops and defines the concept of an Elite Athlete Organisation (EAO), and from an organisational perspective, seeks to answer the question, “What are the organisational factors, practices, and resources that together enable an EAO to be effective and to consistently build a sustainable competitive advantage "? The research was conducted over a three and a half year period, utilising a concurrent mixed method approach (longitudinal case studies and a specially developed survey instrument). Data was collected from a cohort of twelve elite athlete organisations (six key members from each organisation (n = 72 in total). The thesis is an original contribution that validates the emergence and importance of an EAO by comparing the Top 10 and Top 50 EAOs in elite sport. The thesis empirically validates the organisational factors that influence or impeded organisational effectiveness. The primary theoretical contribution is to theory development of an EAO, which sees it as a tightly coupled emergent system made up from the totality of organisational factors, artefacts networks and individuals. Essentially, an EAO is a high functioning knowledge based multidisciplinary entity, delivering a range of specialised integrated services to elite athletes who are capable of podium positions at world-class events. Secondly, the thesis contributes to the discussion of effective management practices in multidisciplinary environments.
Open Access
The Social Structure of Geoeconomics: Institutional Transformations Underpinning Weaponisation of Economic Interdependence in East Asia after the 2008 Financial Crisis
(2025) Jaknanihan, Arrizal
Why have geoeconomic tensions continued to rise in East Asia despite the deepening level of economic interdependence in the region? This thesis analyses the global and regional transformation of institutions that contributed to the rise of the weaponisation of economic interdependence in East Asia after the 2008 global financial crisis. It uses the concept of primary institution (i.e. normative principles ordering international society) from the English School of International Relations to conceptualise institutional transformations underpinning weaponised interdependence. The thesis finds that the transformation of the market (i.e. liberal market ideology) as a primary institution after the 2008 crisis has changed the way states view the security value of economic interdependence. The declining influence of liberal market ideology after the crisis has increasingly allowed and legitimised subordination of economic relations to the state’s security and nationalist imperatives, allowing the weaponisation of economic interdependence to rise during conflict. Through the case of China’s economic coercion in East Asia, the thesis demonstrates that the deepening and weaponisation of economic interdependence came together as the downstream impact of declining influence of the market in ordering international society. This thesis contributes to the study of geoeconomics by analysing weaponised interdependence as part of broader institutional changes unfolding in the global and regional levels.
Open Access
Peptide hormone regulation and synthesis / Karine Caron.
(2015-09) Caron, Karine
The work presented in this thesis focuses on the study of peptide hormones, their post-translational biosynthesis and regulation, and the synthesis of unnatural peptide hormone analogues using cell-fee protein synthesis. In the first instance, the enzymatic activity of peptidylglycine a-amidating monooxygenase (PAM) was studied, an enzyme that catalyses the final post-translational step for many hormones. A novel whole-cell assay is described in Chapter 2, utilising HPLC, which allows simultaneous detection of multiple species of calcitonin (CT). Regulation of PAM activity was examined through measurement of variation in CT and pro-CT levels, in a small cell lung carcinoma cell line (DMS53), to evaluate the effect of PAM inactivators on CT amidation, and in extension, on cancer cell survival. It was found that CT levels relative to CT precursor levels could not be decreased below a certain level in a dose-dependent manner, which signifies the presence of a mechanism for maintenance of homeostasis. Furthermore, through the identification of CT degradation products generated in DMS53 cells medium, it was possible to further probe the degradative pathways for CT in this cell line. To better understand the interactions of PAM with natural substrates, the binding affinities of a series of peptide prohormones were determined, in Chapter 3, using PAM from DMS53 cell medium. While the role of the penultimate amino acid in substrate recognition has been previously reported for short synthetic substrates, the work presented herein highlights the role of the entire peptidic sequence in substrate recognition. It was found that though trends are similar, the extent of the effect of the penultimate amino acid on substrate binding is exaggerated in synthetic substrates, when compared to natural substrates. Furthermore, this variation in peptide hormone binding does not appear to govern the relative levels of those hormones in vivo. Due to our interest in the study of peptide hormones, a new methodology was developed as an alternative to laborious solid phase synthesis for the production of peptide hormones and peptide analogues. As presented in Chapter 4, cell-free protein synthesis, which is commonly used for the production of natural proteins and proteins containing non-canonical amino acids, was applied as a simple and cheap means for generating peptides and unnatural peptide analogues. To do this a new strategy was employed, making use of fusion partner methodology. An expression plasmid was designed and produced, which expresses the peptide of choice as a fusion with a soluble protein, through an enterokinase cleavable linker. This allowed production of CTG and CTG analogues containing the non-canonical amino acids chloro-Val, chloro-Ile, chloro-Tyr, fluoro-Leu and fluoro-Phe. Finally, with the aim of making this new technique more efficient and cost-effective for the production of peptides, in Chapter 5, the use of acetyl phosphate to drive nucleoside triphosphate-dependent protein synthesis together with the generation of the expensive and unstable nucleoside triphosphates was undertaken. This process required characterisation of the endogenous phosphorylating enzymes of the commonly used E. coli BL21(DE3) star strain used for cell-free protein synthesis.
Open Access
Characterisation of flagellar mastigoneme components of phytophthora nicotianae / Wei Yih Hee.
(2015-04) Hee, Wei Yih
Plant diseases caused by Phytophthora species pose significant threats to agriculture and natural biodiversity throughout the world. Motile, flagellate zoospores of Phytophthora and most Oomycete species play a key role in pathogen dissemination and initiation of infection of host plants. Tripartite tubular hairs called mastigonemes on the zoospore anterior flagellum are responsible for cell motility by reversing the thrust of flagellar beat. The objective of the work presented in this thesis was to identify and characterise components of Phytophthora mastigonemes. In previous studies, peptide sequencing and electron microscopy using an antibody directed towards mastigonemes of Phytophthora nicotianae zoospores had identified a gene, PnMas2, which encodes a protein in the tubular shaft of the mastigoneme. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that PnMas2 belongs to a protein family consisting of three or four members. In the current study, degenerate primers were used to clone PnMasl and PnMas3, the two other members of the Mas family in the P. nicotianae genome. Homologues of the three PnMas genes were identified in the genomes of 30 species of Stramenopiles, the major protist assemblage to which the Oomycetes belong. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that the Mas family can be divided into three sub-families, namely Masl, Mas2 and Mas3. Extensive BLAST analyses of Stramenopile and other eukaryotic genomes demonstrated that the Mas protein family occurs only within the Stramenopile taxon and is not found in those few Stramenopile species that do not produce flagellate cells. Quantitative real-time PCR showed that all three Mas genes are expressed during asexual sporulation but that relative levels of expression at other stages of the asexual life cycle differ for the three genes. This suggests that the Mas proteins may have different functions apart from their role in flagellar mastigonemes. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) specific for PnMasl and PnMas3 were generated to study the localisations and protein-protein interactions of the two putative mastigoneme proteins. On immunoblots, anti-PnMasl and anti-PnMas3 each reacted with a single polypeptide with a relative molecular weight close to that predicted from the amino acid sequence of the protein - 64 kDa for PnMasl and 24 kDa for PnMas3. Immunoblotting of zoospore protein extracts in native gels indicated that PnMasl and PnMas2 both PnMas proteins has provided clues as to their function. The new information resulting from my study will contribute to increase the understanding of Phytophthora zoospore motility and subsequently the mechanism of Oomycete disease dissemination.
Open Access
The cultural context and poetic tradition of some of the vernacular lyrics from MS. Harley 2253 / by M. R. Willetts.
(1973) Willetts, Marjorie R
"King John", wrote A. A.. Milne with unhistorical simplicity, "was not a good man»" Probably not for he was one of the first royal bureaucrats*
Open Access
Some aspects of the biology of Velacumantus australis (Quoy and Gaimard) (Gastropoda: Potamididae) / by William Hector Ewers.
(1967) Ewers, William
Velacumantus australis (Q,uoy and Gaimard) (Gastropoda : Potamididae) is common in estuaries, coastal lakes and sheltered bays along the eastern coast of Australia, south of the Tropic of Capricorn, along the eastern part of the Victorian coast and the southwest part of the coast of Western Australia.
Open Access
Harvesting the half: the persistence of sharecropping in Samcholing, Bhutan
(2016-12) Penjore, Dorji
This dissertation is an anthropological inquiry into why sharecropping of paddy persists in Samcholing village, Bhutan, when it has largely disappeared from other villages in the country. It presents a detailed ethnographic discussion of the phenomenon of sharecropping as an agricultural technology, as a type of social organization and as a central focus of social and cultural life of Samcholing. It is an observation and analysis of sharecropping as it has developed historically over the centuries and how it has persisted to the present in Samcholing. The study is placed within the general criticism of sharecropping as an inefficient agricultural organization that is incongruous with capitalism. The general consensus until recently has thus been that sharecropping is bound to disappear once the transition to capitalism is completed. Similarly destined for the disappearance is the peasant or family farm as a result of capitalist transformations of agriculture. Based on one-year of fieldwork and a household survey, the study shows that landlessness, a common reason for sharecropping, partly explains the persistence of sharecropping in Samcholing, which is confined to cultivating wetland paddy, as an important subsistence strategy in the household economy, since absentee landowners own more than half of the village’s paddy fields. However, the bigger and the more complex reasons are embedded, far beneath the topsoil that the sharecroppers till every agricultural season, in the subsoil of Samcholing’s history, social structure, and geography. While the study locates the immediate causes for institutionalizing sharecropping in the social reform of the 1960s during which an underclass of people - the ancestors of people in Samcholing - was abolished and sharecropping introduced as a progressive tenancy, the complex history of land tenure in the village and the emergence of a locally distinctive system provides the essential context for understanding agrarian relation in the village.
Open Access
Soviet foreign trade / L. Haddad
(1967-02) Haddad, L
The primary purpose of this study is to record and explain recent trends in Soviet foreign trade. In particular, it is proposed to analyse the factors governing the decisions of Soviet planners in the field of foreign trade and to examine more closely their trade and aid activities in the underdeveloped areas, paying special attention to the countries of South and South-East Asia.
Open Access
Investigation of neural-like signalling in human germinal centres / Dorji Penjore.
(2017-04) Papa, Ilenia
Protective high affinity antibody responses depend on competitive selection of B cells carrying somatically-mutated BCRs by Tfh cells in germinal centres (GC). The rapid T:B synaptic interactions that occur during this process are reminiscent of those within the nervous system. Therefore, we asked whether neural transmission pathways participate in GC selection. This thesis shows that a proportion of human, but not mouse, GC Tfh cells contained dense-core granules marked by chromogranin B, which are normally found in neuronal pre-synaptic terminals and their main function is to store neuropeptides and/or catecholamines, such as dopamine. Further, GC Tfh cells contained high concentrations of dopamine and released it upon cognate interaction with GC B cells. In a search for dopamine-mediated effects on human GC B cells, we identified selective and rapid upregulation of ICOSL. ICOSL-mediated costimulation has been shown to increase the contact area between GC B cells and Tfh cells, which maximises antigen presentation and delivery of Tfh cell help. In mice, upregulation of ICOSL by GC B cells is driven by TFH expressed CD40L in a process that takes hours. In this thesis, we show that ICOSL upregulation by human GC B cells did not depend on CD40L. of note, high amount of intracellular preformed ICOSL was expressed in human GC B cells and translocated to the surface within minutes of stimulation by dopamine. ICOSL was able to enhance accumulation of CD40L and chromogranin B granules at the human Tfh:GC B cell synapse and increase the contact area. Further, mathematical modelling suggests that faster dopamineinduced T:B interactions do not change affinity maturation but rather increase total output and accelerate it by days. This thesis demonstrates that Tfh cells have co-opted yet another form of synaptic help that may provide an advantage in the face of infection.
Open Access
Roar : a Melbourne phenomenon / Denise Morgan.
(2014-08) Morgan, Denise
In late 1981 shared ideas about art and the Melbourne art world drew a group of neo-expressionist artists together. Most were still in art school. Plans to open their own gallery attracted other artists who, although they had different art styles, shared a vision of an independent artist run gallery and studios. Together they opened Roar Studios in June 1982. At the time the Western art world was returning to regionalised subjective art, particularly painting. Melbourne commentators therefore focussed on the expressionist artists of Roar Studios —Wayne Eager, Sarah Faulkner, Andrew Ferguson, Peter Ferguson, Pasquale Giardino, Karan Hay man, Mark Howson, David Larwill, Karl Morkel, Mike Nicholls, Jill Noble, Mark Schaller and Judi Singleton — and, when these artists left Roar Studios, the Roar name and the Roar myth went with them. The group's composition was identified and reinforced by Sydney art collector and dealer, Chandler Coventry, and James Mollison, Director of the Australian National Gallery, both of whom sought out and showed their work. The Roar myth is comprised of elements associated with youthful enthusiasm; a style of art that is colourful, deliberately not theoretically based, quickly executed, and highly subjective; shown in an independent art gallery forever on the brink of financial ruin; wild parties and fundraisers to remedy that situation; and a reckless lifestyle to nourish the muse. The Roar myth is complex and rich. It includes influences of abstraction, minimalism and the constructivism of Torres-Garcia as well as the work of Australian artists — Booth, Kemp, Whisson and Olsen among them. Roar's strong foundations in the influence of naive art allowed it to negotiate a post-colonial shift away from primitivism — a driver that formed part of its artistic habitus of modernism — while maintaining the integrity of its own trajectory. Roar's engagement with Australia's indigenous culture, both the people and the art, helped negotiate a path away from primitivism's objectifying discourse and introduced new technical and spiritual elements to the work of the Roar artists.
Open Access
Engineering Nonlinear and Quantum Photonics in Two-Dimensional Materials
(2026) Tang, Yilin
Two-dimensional (2D) nonlinear quantum materials, especially transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), are highly promising for next-generation devices due to their strong light-matter interaction. A key challenge is the interface between materials and electrodes, where high contact resistivity (RC) hinders device performance. This work introduces a novel method for direct RC measurement in monolayer TMD-metal junctions using photoluminescence (PL) microscopy, a simple approach that overcomes the limitations of traditional electrical methods. Building on this, the thesis tackles the challenge of phase mismatch in nonlinear optics. It presents a quasi-phase-matching (QPM) technique using van der Waals (vdW) stacking of 3R MoS2 layers with specific twist angles, which periodically reverses the nonlinear dipole to significantly enhance second-harmonic generation (SHG) and spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC). To further amplify efficiency, the research explores resonant field enhancement using metasurfaces supporting quasi-bound states in the continuum (qBIC). This approach, leveraging the high refractive index and nonlinearity of 3R MoS2, led to a remarkable 2000-fold enhancement in SHG intensity, achieved by aligning the metasurface design with the material's lattice and resonances. Culminating this work, the principles of enhanced local fields were applied to the generation of quantum light. The thesis demonstrates enhanced SPDC from a vdW metasurface, producing a high-quality quantum light source. Ultimately, this thesis provides a comprehensive framework, from fundamental material characterization to advanced device engineering, paving the way for the next generation of on-chip quantum light sources and optical technologies. The methodologies and devices presented here establish 2D vdW materials as a powerful platform for the future of integrated photonics.
Open Access
Rogue Parliament: Politics versus the rule of law in Papua New Guinea (7 July 2010 to 3 August 2012)
(2026) Thomas, Murray
This thesis chronicles and examines the political and legal turmoil that engulfed Papua New Guinea (PNG) in the period from 7 July 2010 to 3 August 2012. The replacement of Sir Michael Somare as prime minister by Peter O'Neill on 2 August 2011 and a 'whatever it takes' attitude to holding on to political power were cloaked by the slogan - 'the Parliament is supreme'. The new government, headed by O'Neill and Belden Namah, presided over a dramatic retreat from the rule of law and a serious attempt at tampering with the constitutionally mandated national election cycle. A detailed history has been developed with a view to addressing three questions: 1) Was the takeover of government lawful or unlawful?; 2) Why and how did the new government remain in power?; and 3) What, if any, are the likely long-term effects of this turbulent time on the operation of the rule of law and democracy in PNG? Archival research was complimented by semi-structured interviews with participants and close observers of relevant events. Existing analytical work was also drawn upon and critiqued. The analysis considered three deeply interwoven drivers of political change in PNG, namely the country's circumstances as a 'fragile state', the influence of custom and the primacy given to local over national needs. The period (2010-12) and events covered here have attracted far less academic interest than they deserve. This thesis offers several reflections on PNG politics. First, the electorate gives politicians considerable latitude with respect to political manoeuvrings between elections. Between 2010 and 2012, this latitude facilitated the illegal takeover of the government and, in turn, a retreat from the rule of law. Second, the country is locked into a framework of highly fluid political allegiances, with leaders and parties constantly having to provide inducements to maintain the loyalty of individual members of parliament. Third, the formation of new governments is essentially a rebadging exercise, with most members being drawn from the former government. This continuity helps to explain the absence of significant policy differences between administrations and undermines any zeal and scope for serious reform of PNG politics and governance. Finally, the period has established many precedents that are more likely than not to encourage future politicians to ignore the national interest and legal obligations in favour of personal advancement. Notably, Peter O'Neill was rewarded for his political adventurism by becoming prime minister after the 2012 general election, no-one was punished for illegal activities, and Sir Michael Somare and his loyal ministers were compensated for losing their positions.
Open Access
Time-dependent Wave Packet Scattering Theory for Asymptotically Coulomb Potentials with Applications to Nuclear Collisions
(2025) Tejas, Aditya Singh
Non-relativistic quantum scattering theory informs our broad understanding of nuclear collision processes. However, detailed theoretical insights into the dynamics of fusion, whereby the colliding nuclei form a compound nucleus, remain elusive with conventional approaches. Fundamentally, understanding the complex dissipative processes inherent to compound nucleus formation and when they occur during the collision remains challenging. This, for example, prevents a consistent description of heavy-ion fusion over a wide range of collision energies and hinders searches for new super-heavy elements. To understand these dynamics, we need time-dependent approaches to nuclear collisions. In this thesis, a non-relativistic, time-dependent wave packet theory for potential scattering of charged quantum particles (such as nuclei) has been developed. It formally extends the application of Tannor and Weeks's (1993) formulation of the scattering matrix theory to systems containing the long-range Coulomb potential, by utilising Dollard's (1964) Møller operators. Using the asymptotic localisation of wave packets, analytical theorems have been formulated that allow convenient numerical application of this method. Numerical tests illustrating the theory mark the first rigorous application of this method in nuclear physics. Further insights are gained through a novel analysis of the wave packet time-correlation function (which underlies the theory) to understand how different dynamical processes, such as the formation of long-lived, quasi-bound states, during scattering contribute to the scattering matrix. This provides guidance on using the time-correlation function to obtain fusion observables, along with the associated challenges. Furthermore, this analysis showed that time-correlation functions can be obtained from static calculations, opening numerous new possibilities for studying the dynamics of nuclear reactions, in general, using this approach. This work opens new avenues for studying the dynamics of compound nucleus formation and other dissipative processes in nuclear reactions.
Open Access
The Federal Parliamentary Labor Party : some aspects of party integration / Germanus Pause.
(1975-03) Pause, Germanus
The purpose of this study is to identify and analyse several factors relevant to the development of the Australian Federal Labor Party in the years 1901-1917.
Open Access
TRPV1-TRPA1 Modulate Central Encoding of Somatosensory Information and Perception
(2026) Amrutha, Leena
To effectively interact with the environment, sensory systems must extract and represent meaningful information from external stimuli. This process begins peripherally, where sensory neurons transduce environmental cues into neural activity. Among the key molecular mediators of this transduction are the Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) channels, particularly TRP Vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) and TRP Ankyrin 1 (TRPA1), which are polymodal channels well-characterised for their roles in detecting noxious stimuli, such as heat, chemical irritants and inflammatory agents. While their contributions to the peripheral nervous system are well known, their roles within the central nervous system are still not well understood. Centrally, neuromodulatory systems such as the cholinergic and noradrenergic pathways are recognised as key regulators of cortical excitability and sensory processing. These systems dynamically modulate the gain of the neuronal response function and thus shape the representation of incoming sensory information, and in turn determine the animal's perception and behaviour in a context-dependent manner. Despite extensive research into such classical neuromodulators, the potential involvement of TRP channels in modulating sensory processing has received little attention. This thesis addresses this gap by investigating the contributions of TRPV1 and TRPA1 within the vibrissal primary somatosensory cortex (vS1) of mice, a well-established model system for tactile sensory processing. Through an integrative approach combining behavioural assays, in vivo two-photon calcium imaging, whole-cell patch-clamp recording and high-density Neuropixels electrophysiology, I examine how TRPV1 and TRPA1 modulate cortical activity and contribute to the encoding of sensory signals. First, I demonstrate that TRPV1 activation in vS1 enhances perceptual sensitivity to whisker vibrations and increases sensory evoked cortical responses, while TRPV1 inhibition produces the opposite effect. Calcium imaging further reveals that TRPV1 enhances stimulus gain, increases the proportion of stimulus-selective neurons and improves the discrimination of near-threshold stimuli. At the cellular level, whole-cell recordings from layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons reveal that TRPV1 activation enhances intrinsic excitability. Crucially, these effects depend on TRPA1, as they are abolished in TRPA1 knockout mice or when TRPA1 is pharmacologically inhibited. Conversely, TRPA1 increases excitability independently of TRPV1, revealing a unidirectional interaction in which TRPV1 acts via TRPA1 to influence cortical function. Finally, using Neuropixels recordings during whisker stimulation, I show that TRPV1-TRPA1 interactions enhance both single-neuron and population-level coding. TRPV1 activation amplifies stimulus-response functions, improves the discriminability of stimuli and increases the decoding accuracy of stimulus identity. On a population level, TRPV1 activity decreases positive noise correlations and increases negative correlations, thereby improving the efficiency of sensory coding. Blocking TRPA1 diminishes these effects, confirming its role in TRPV1-mediated modulation. In summary, this thesis establishes TRPV1 as a central modulator of cortical sensory processing, acting through TRPA1 to enhance neuronal excitability, sharpen sensory representations and improve perceptual sensitivity. These findings expand the role of TRP channels beyond their known peripheral functions, positioning them as key contributors to cortical neuromodulation.
Open Access
Spatial Sound Field Modeling and Noise Cancellation for Drones
(2026) Bi, Hanwen
Abstract This thesis advances the modeling and reduction of drone noise through the use of on-board microphones and directional active noise control (ANC) systems. In recent years, small-scale unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, have become increasingly prevalent across a wide array of applications, including parcel delivery, mapping, and emergency response. Despite their growing utility, drone operations contribute significantly to environmental noise pollution, posing risks to both daily comfort and public health. Consequently, the development of effective drone noise mitigation techniques has become a pressing concern. To address this challenge, the thesis first introduces novel methods for drone noise modeling based solely on on-board microphone measurements. These methods generalise the drone noise modeling task as a sound field extrapolation problem. A sound field extrapolation framework based on spherical sector harmonics is proposed, and a comprehensive theoretical analysis is conducted to support its application to sectorial sound field reconstruction. Furthermore, the method is enhanced through the derivation of an explicit mapping between spherical and spherical sector harmonics, improving both accuracy and flexibility. To overcome geometric limitations in microphone placement, we further develop a physics-informed neural network (PINN) architecture called the point neuron net- work. This model embeds the fundamental solution of the wave equation into its structure, ensuring physical consistency. The network handles complex-valued sig- nals directly, improves interpretability, and generalizes effectively across various acoustic conditions. Unlike existing approaches, it does not rely on pre-collected datasets and remains robust to sensor noise and irregular sensor configurations. Building upon the proposed modeling approaches, we develop two directional drone ANC systems that target noise propagation in specific far-field regions. The first sys- tem is based on the spherical sector harmonics extrapolation framework and incorporates constraints on payload and power consumption. We analyze the secondary- to-primary source power ratio for different secondary source configurations by simulations. Additionally, we enhance the ANC algorithm to relax the geometric requirements of the monitoring microphone array and validate the system's performance through hardware experiments. Complementing these systems, we introduce a propeller phase control method aimed at reducing tonal drone noise in the downward far-field region. By adjusting the relative phase of multiple propellers, this technique achieves destructive interference in targeted directions, thereby reducing noise radiation without additional hardware. Overall, the contributions presented in this thesis constitute a comprehensive framework for drone noise modeling and directional noise reduction, offering physically grounded, practically feasible, and experimentally validated solutions to a critical problem in drone operations. Furthermore, the point-neuron learning framework and the spherical sector harmonic-based extrapolation method presented in this thesis are applicable to a broad range of sound field-related problems, including sound field reproduction, interpolation, and extrapolation.
Open Access
Plasmodium proteins at the parasite-host interface contribute to the liver and blood infection stages
(2025) Kirscht, Florian
Plasmodium parasites extensively remodel their host cells to establish a growth-permissive environment. Research on Plasmodium-host interactions has predominantly focused on the blood-stage of Plasmodium falciparum infection. To gain broader insights into the parasite-host interface across different Plasmodium species and infection stages, this study characterized six candidate exported proteins in Plasmodium berghei, a rodent malaria model. Candidate proteins were selected based on their predicted export signals, conservation across Plasmodium species, and association with exported proteins. Many exported proteins for P. falciparum carry the conserved Plasmodium export element/host-targeting motif (PEXEL/HTS). The two candidate proteins PBANKA_0100200 and PBANKA_1000300 were selected based on the presence of a predicted PEXEL/HTS motif. However, despite their expression during the blood stage of infection, localization studies revealed that PBANKA_0100200 and PBANKA_1000300 are not exported. This finding underscores that the presence of a PEXEL/HTS motif is not always a definitive marker of protein export in P. berghei, suggesting that additional factors or sequence elements influence the export of proteins in this species. PBANKA_0214600 also has a PEXEL/HTS motif, and its export during both liver- and blood-stage infection was shown in this study. PBANKA_0214600 was found to localize to discrete cytoplasmic structures different from the Plasmodium berghei-induced membrane structures (IBIS). While its deletion did not affect parasite growth, it led to an increased number of circulating schizonts, indicating a potential role in sequestration The tryptophan-rich proteins intraerythrocytic Plasmodium-induced structure proteins 2 and 3 (IPIS2 and IPIS3) were immunoprecipitated with IBIS1, a protein known to localize to the IBIS. Functional characterization revealed that deletion of IPIS2 impairs schizont adhesion to CD36, leading to an increased presence of circulating schizonts and a reduced parasite burden in adipose and lung tissue of infected mice. In contrast, deletion of IPIS3 results in an increased number of circulating schizonts but does not significantly affect sequestration in the lung or adipose tissue, suggesting that these proteins are involved in different aspects of the sequestration process. Finally, PbACS9, a putative acyl-CoA synthetase, was chosen as a candidate protein as it was also pulled down with IBIS1 in the same manner as IPIS2 and IPIS3. PbACS9 was shown to be exported to the erythrocyte membrane. PbACS9-deficient parasites exhibited delayed liver-stage development and increased gametocyte numbers in the blood-stage of infection. In order to analyze the function of PbACS9 for the parasite a fatty acid analysis was conducted. In the measured conditions no difference in the uptake or metabolism of fatty acids with less than 18 carbons was measured if compared to WT-parasites. This thesis advances the understanding of Plasmodium-host interactions by identifying and characterizing 6 proteins and revealing their roles in host cell remodeling, immune evasion, and parasite survival across multiple life cycle stages.
Open Access
Mission modern : an ethno-historical explanation of the origins and reception of the Cape York welfare reform trial in Hope Vale / Elizabeth Watt.
(2016-10) Watt, Elizabeth; Australian National University. Dept. of Anthropology.
This thesis explores class-based differences that have emerged within Indigenous Australian society since colonisation, through the prism of an ethnohistory of the Guugu Yimidhirr-speaking town of Hope Vale in the south-east of Cape York. Tracing the trajectory of the racialised groups that developed during the town's past as a Lutheran mission, it reveals some of the transformations in political subjectivity, economic values and codes of public conduct that have precipitated the emergence of the contemporary Indigenous 'middle-class'. This porous group of relatively cosmopolitan Aboriginal people differs in fundamental ways from its lower-class counterpart, which tend to subscribe more strongly to the distinct Indigenous values that anthropologists have long argued mitigate against 'success' as defined by the dominant society. While this ethno-history covers sensitive, wide-ranging issues of national and international importance, it grew out of a specific question about the reception of the Cape York Welfare Reform Trial (CYWRT). The CYWRT is an ongoing social policy experiment that has, since 2008, explicitly sought to "rebuild social norms" and "restore Indigenous authority" (CYP, 2007: 8). Early reviews of the Trial suggest that, of the four communities involved, the residents of Hope Vale are the most vocally opposed to the scheme. This response is interesting as the CYWRT's primary architect - prominent public intellectual Noel Pearson - has derived both reform inspiration and moral authority from his upbringing in the town. Also surprising is the fact the resistance was led by Hope Vale's wageearning 'spectators' rather than the welfare-dependent 'subjects' of the reforms themselves. Drawing on thirteen months of fieldwork, this thesis concludes that these categories reflect the vestiges of the "colour-class" system that developed in Hope Vale during the mission era (Terwiel-Powell, 1976, p.11). The employed spectators' of the CYWRT are mostly descendants of the lighter-skinned group, who were favoured by the Lutherans, while the welfare department's 'subjects' are mostly descendants of the neglected darker-skinned families. While the values enshrined in the CYWRT are heavily influenced by Pearson's upbringing as part of the mission upper class, the same heritage explains the resistance to these reforms among fellow descendants of this engaged group. The relatively respectable, outward-looking, educated spectators of the reforms are more likely to be aware of, and identify with, rights-based and utilitarian arguments against the CYWRT, to have an interest in preserving the power of the local council, and to take offence at Pearson's public criticisms of contemporary social standards in their hometown. Meanwhile, because the embedded Guugu Yimidhirr families' frame of socio-political reference is largely restricted to the town's 'Blackfella domain' - where 'disreputable' Indigenous identity constructions prevail - they are less likely to experience shame in relation to the CYWRT, and tend to base their views on personal, tangible experiences of the scheme rather than broader politico-philosophical principles or interests. This analysis is controversial because it runs counter to the recent emphasis on Indigenous unity and cultural continuity. Yet, it is also critical for understanding the reception of the new policy paradigm that the CYWRT represents, and what Aboriginal society might look like if such schemes were successful.

Browse

Recent Submissions