This thesis has several aims. The first was to identify how practicing emergency nurses developed themselves personally in educationally in preparation for triage practice. The second was to develop a triage educational program to prepare emergency nurses in triage practice. The third was to evaluate the effectiveness of the triage educational program in increasing participant’s triage knowledge, and the fourth was to develop triage standards for triage education and practice. The research programme was conducted in three stages. The first stage consisted of the development, distribution, analysis and evaluation of a needs analysis questionnaire designed to determine the issues related to a triage education. The second stage of the research applied the needs analysis findings to the development of a 40 hour Triage Educational Program. Stage three added a qualitative dimension to the thesis. The evaluative results supported the quantitative results obtained in the two preceding studies. The Triage Educational Program was not only an effective triage education resource but in addition it was evaluated as effective regardless of one’s previous experience level of triage expertise. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Young infants can discriminate a great variety of speech sounds both native and nonnative in their language environment. The focus of the perceptual reorganisation research to date has been on infants’ discrimination of nonnative segments, in particular, consonants and vowels. In tone languages (eg. Cantonese, Mandarin, and Thai) phonemic distinctions are signalled not only by consonants and vowels, but also by lexical tone – consisting of variations in fundamental frequency (pitch) and related features. Although such languages are spoken by over half the world’s population, the development of lexical tone perception has been relatively neglected. This thesis addresses whether perceptual reorganisation occurs for tone in infancy. Overall, the results of experiments conducted support the hypotheses and the existence of perceptual reorganisation for tone in infancy, similar to that for consonants and vowels. Implications of the results for speech perception development theories, “tone space”, tone acquisition, and early word learning are discussed, and future studies relating to these issues suggested. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis represents the results of studies designed to investigate computer anxiety among adult learners. The existence, nature and degree of computer anxiety were investigated with a sample of teacher trainees undertaking an introductory computer training course, and the impact of this course on the anxiety and cognitions of the students were studied. Another study focussed on the evaluation of the measure of computer anxiety used in this study with a view to the design of a new computer anxiety treatment. Results showed that computer anxiety is not necessarily dissipated by completing a computer course, and is correlated with gender, computer ownership and previous computer experience. A number of faculties with different student populations were studied, and computer anxiety was high within each. Interviews with computing course coordinators indicated a range of approaches to instructional design, beliefs about the extent and causes of computer anxiety, and ways of alleviating it. Two approaches derived from these interviews formed the basis of the design of this study, with instructional methods as the treatments and levels of computer anxiety and negative cognitions as the aptitudes. The sample comprised two, with the first group receiving traditional instruction while the second group received direct instruction plus metacognitive strategy training in self-questioning within a cooperative learning context. Achievement was significantly enhanced in the second group, and it was felt that metacognitive training was effective as a means of enhancing achievement and positive cognitions. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Each day the joint managers of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park receive packages of returned rocks and sand that have been removed from the landscape by visitors as a souvenir of the place. The returned objects are sent from people all over the world as the stories of this phenomenon travel well beyond the Park boundaries. Known within the Park as the ‘sorry rocks’, these returned objects and their accompanying letters of apology reflect the different ways in which people engage with the landscape and interpret their surrounds. In this research, the sorry rocks have been used as a medium for examining the complex relationships that exist between visitors, heritage management and interpretation particularly in cross-cultural settings that recognise Indigenous cultural heritage. THIS THESIS CAN BE VIEWED AT UWS LIBRARY FOR RESEARCH OR PRIVATE STUDY PURPOSES ONLY BY PRIOR ARRANGEMENT. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This study sets out to develop a sociological approach to art and literature which views art as a socially situated knowledge and which at the same time preserves an independent and unique sphere of activity for art that enables it to offer life opportunities of a different nature from those of the established social order. To fulfill this task two complementary studies were carried out; a theoretical investigation and an empirical research. First, this critically examines existing theories in the sociology of knowledge and art and focuses on the problem of the 'social determination of art and literature.' This examination is based in the consideration of art as an element in the knowledge sphere and the sociology of art as a branch of the sociology of knowledge. A critique of the notion of the 'social determination of art' leads to a set of hypotheses which are tested in the field. The question of great art problematises the 'social determination' hypotheses. Secondly, an empirical study of Australian playwrights is carried out which examines the hypotheses derived from the theoretical investigation. The empirical methods of this study is a survey, using a mail questionnaire, supported by interviews with professionals in Australian drama. This is combined with a documentary study of the socio-economic conditions of Australia during the last 25 years, together with content analysis of plays written by Australian playwrights during the same period. The results of the empirical investigation support the proposed hypotheses showing that while social conditions effect contemporary artistic works, this effect is not uniform when comparing 'first rate' of 'great art' with other artistic creations. This questions the concept of the social determination of art explored in the thesis, and at the same time questions the extent and scope of such a determination. Finally, the conclusion of the thesis is that sociology is relevant in the analysis of artistic works so long as it is concerned with the social dimension of art. It is concluded that the aesthetic knowledge of the artist, which determines the quality of artistic works, is independent from social forces. Although art bears the mark of contemporary social conditions, it is not a product of these conditions. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The Industrial Schools Act introduced State coercion into the ‘childcare’ of the colony, and industrial schools became legal enforcers for other welfare institutions. This thesis provides an account of two industrial schools in nineteenth and early twentieth century New South Wales, focusing on the children and the lives they lived within the institutions and relying heavily upon primary sources. NSS Vernon enrolled destitute, neglected and delinquent boys. The curriculum, combined with an elaborate system of rewards, proved effective as reformative agents and after 1911 the ship’s coercive function was taken over by other reformatory schools and by a system of probation. About one third of girls admitted to ISG Newcastle were older, sexually delinquent girls. Inappropriate site, inadequate preparation, insufficient and untrained staff, lack of suitable curriculum and denial of support from the Colonial Secretary led to total failure of the school. Physical and verbal abuse was in evidence at Newcastle and resurfaced after the change of enrollments to mostly older girls about the time of the school’s transfer to Parramatta in 1887. After 1905 committals were aimed at maintaining street order and parental authority, to house the ‘uncontrollables’ and ‘incompetents’ and to provide a lock hospital for the control of venereal disease. The expressed purpose of the school to provide ‘good useful women’ dovetailed neatly with the introduction of probation, mostly for boys, which was enforced ‘through the mother’ / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Broad changes in early-modern English society were often reflected in the community via a 'war of words'. A close investigation of the social circumstances of individuals and of the relationships between individuals who were caught up in verbal crime provides a detailed context or 'micro-history' of this phenomenon, which in turn sheds light on the socio-economic changes occurring in the Northwest during this period. Since crimes associated with speech increased fourfold between 1580-1680, an investigation of the symbolic domain of speech is important to an understanding of early-modern society. This includes an investigation of chiding, cursing and scolding. In this thesis, the sources of female power in the early-modern community are examined, as well as the dynamics of ill-will behind female verbal crime. Such crimes are researched from manuscripts of proceedings in the local church courts and quarter sessions, which often provide insights into the popular politics of early-modern towns. By examining such texts, we may access a 'micro-history' of gossip that contributes to the debate over such micro-historical questions as gender, social politics and female social space. Networks of power and factional divisions with the community are revealed by exploring the attitudes of those involved in cases of female verbal crime, since individuals from every walk of life appeared in order to give evidence / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

During World War II and the years immediately following, a successful Sydney businessman, Lesley Owen (L.O.) Bailey, initiated a unique social experiment. Bailey formed an organisation, the Youth Welfare Association of Australia (YWAA), which took into its care 86 ‘war babies’, 43 boys and 43 girls, children who were unable, for a number of reasons, to be cared for by their natural parents. For the next 20 years, these children were cared for by Bailey and the YWAA in a number of homes throughout NSW, which he established for the purpose, the primary home being located at Hopewood House, Bowral. The children were raised entirely on a natural diet, primarily fresh vegetables and fruit. Formal medical care was limited, with medical interventions emphasising the preventative properties of the natural health diet, rather than the use of conventional medical cures. The children were subjected to regular medical, and in particular dental, surveillance and measurement, the results of which were formally published in learned medical and dental journals in Australia during the 1950s. Bailey’s stated intention was to demonstrate the virtues of his regime of diet and health, and the physical improvements which could be derived from his regime. This thesis examines the bio-political dimensions of Bailey’s project within the context of scientific modernity. Within this context, the project is examined from three major perspectives. First, the project is examined as a eugenics experiment. It is argued that Bailey’s project was eugenically motivated, with the intention in the first instance of improving the physical being of the generation of children under his control. The second major dimension examines the disciplines of bodily regulation within Hopewood, and in particular the Hopewood diet. Diet is viewed as a mode of social discipline, imposed within the framework of a total institution for purposes of bio-political enhancement of the species being. For Bailey, diet is the mode of regulation which enables the eugenic outcome of trans-generational bodily enhancement. Third, the thesis examines the implications of social contructions of childhood within the bio-political context, in particular, issues of the ownership of children and children’s bodies. Bailey’s project was an experiment enacted on the bodies of children, and it is argued that social constructions of childhood, especially the discourses surrounding innocence and socialisation, define social ownership and constrain children’s social membership. This thesis is an examination of how society views children, what society sees as the role of children, and the kinds of practices which these constructions sanction towards children. It also illuminates an episode in the history of the Australian eugenics movement, and especially the eugenics of diet. This thesis is a record of a unique Australian social experiment, and its impact on a number of individual lives / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This study is concerned with the way in which discourses of the Other are deployed in the media's narrative constructions of national imaginary. Operating on the assumption that news provides techniques and devices which enable the nation and its Other to be narrated and imagined, the analysis focuses on the structures and processes by which Japan is constructed in the news stories in some Australian and Chinese printed media. The analysis finds that othering is a dynamic and complex process engaged in by both the East and the West, for purposes of both cultural domination and cultural negotiation, and to serve both external and domestic political ends. The study shows that what seems to be an essential distinction between the Orient, or the East, and the Occident, or the West, in the discourses of the Other is constantly shifting, fluid and context-specific. The investigation points to the need of forsaking a framework of understanding media and identity which is based on a truth vs propaganda, or information vs entertainment dichotomy, and adopting an approach that takes into account the particularities of the cultural practices of each media system / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) (Media and Cultural Studies)

This thesis contributes to discussion surrounding the importance of reflexivity in social theory and sociology by illustrating some of the paradoxes involved in the development of a reflexive social science. It does this by focusing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, arguably the main advocate of relexive sociology. It is argued that Bourdieu's emphasis on a 'science of practices' limits his ability to be completely relexive because it excludes moral reflexivity. This is ironic, given that Bourdieu believes that reflexivity increases scientificity. The thesis argues that Max Weber's work on religious rationalisation offers an insightful understanding of these paradoxes. His work reveals how and why Modernity witnessed a separation and tension between moral reflexivity and epistemological reflexivity. It also reveals, despite Weber's best efforts to do so, that such a paradoxical tension cannot be overcome. The thesis uses these insights to show the dilemmas and tensions facing any relexive sociology / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)